Trotman, who has coached Draper from long before he became a challenger for major titles, is back in his box too, sitting alongside Murray. But it is understandably the former world No 1 whose impact is attracting the most attention.<\/p>\n
![\"Jack](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SEI_303004166.jpg\")
Murray and Trotman form Draper\u2019s core team (Photo: AFP)<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always said Andy\u2019s a huge inspiration for me,\u201d Draper said this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s comforting to have him there. It\u2019s a real boost, it\u2019s a real confidence feeling to have him there, and also obviously having having Trots beside him as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose two have got an amazing relationship as well. It feels very natural.\u201d<\/p>\n
There have already been ups and downs, with Draper forced to pull out of their first tournament together at Queen\u2019s because of a knee problem, but he then made the semi-finals of Eastbourne the week before Wimbledon.<\/p>\n
\u2018Refreshing intensity\u2019<\/p>\n
Murray\u2019s coaching style is different from other former players, who often rely on their lived experience alone to produce pearls of wisdom.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s much more meticulous,\u201d one tour coach says. \u201cHe takes it as seriously as he took everything in his playing career, the intensity is refreshing.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was evident during Murray\u2019s stint coaching Novak Djokovic last year. He admitted that there was a lot more work than he ever realised as a player, and that his knowledge of the technical side was still lacking.<\/p>\n
To compensate, he would stay up late watching videos of opponents to develop tactical gameplays for Djokovic.<\/p>\n
Every shot counts<\/p>\n
With Draper, he has been looking at the biomechanics of his explosive serve, trying to figure out whether his technique is driving the repeated injuries he has been suffering.<\/p>\n
In training, strength and conditioning coach James Padfield has been logging every single serve Draper hits on a handheld clicker. Earlier in the season, his coaching team cut short a practice match in Spain because he had reached the limit decided for that day. The fiercely competitive Draper was furious, so strong is his competitive spirit. <\/p>\n
![\"Tennis](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SEI_303008942.jpg\")
Draper\u2019s arm and shoulder have both been problems, aggravated by his service action (Photo: Reuters)<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s always worked hard from all the years that I\u2019ve known him,\u201d says Harry Wendelken, who is four days older than him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis determination as well when he\u2019s on the court\u2026 he\u2019s a really chill fun guy off the court, but then once he gets on the court, it\u2019s like game time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s quite hard to practice with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murray\u2019s value to Draper is not solely tactical. He was someone Draper idolised growing up: he was 10 years old when Murray ended the decades-long wait for a British male grand slam champion. <\/p>\n
When he got old enough to start training at the National Tennis Centre regularly, Murray took him under his wing, recognising that he was the best player in a talented generation.<\/p>\n
Mentor to friend<\/p>\n
They soon became Davis Cup teammates, and after a win over France in Manchester three years ago, Murray drove him home. <\/p>\n
Draper had a few beers before and on the way, posting a tongue-in-cheek video on Instagram of him singing the Proclaimers\u2019 \u201c500 Miles\u201d in the passenger seat to a deadpan, bird-flipping Murray. <\/p>\n
It was a sign that the mentor-mentee relationship was sealed, even before the three-time grand slam champion retired a year later.<\/p>\n
The \u201ccomfort\u201d Draper feels with such a close friend in the box can work the other way on his opponent too.<\/p>\n
Even fellow British player Toby Samuel, who was on the other side of the draw but would have faced Draper for the title if they had both won their semi-finals in Eastbourne, said: \u201cI was like, \u2018I might have to play Jack, and then Andy will be coaching against me. Not good!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Someone to lean on\u2019<\/p>\n
And while Murray has worked hard at his technical knowledge (all while also coaching YouTube megastar KSI as part of his new video venture), his counsel in the tough times will be invaluable too.<\/p>\n
Draper has only played 14 matches since he was last at Wimbledon, a bone bruise in his arm keeping him out of the second half of 2025 and then a knee injury sidelining him for almost all the clay-court season this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cAndy\u2019s obviously dealt with his own adversity and his career [in terms of] injuries, and I\u2019m sure it\u2019s nice for Drapes to have someone of that level to lean on,\u201d says world No 145 Jack Pinnington-Jones, who used to hitch lifts with Draper to training at the NTC.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
\u201cThey get on really well. They\u2019re both very driven and very hard working, but also have very dry senses of humour, so I think it is quite a good match.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrapes is highly motivated, wants to be back at the top of the game, and doing everything possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murray is contracted until the end of the grass-court season, and says he does not want to travel on the tour. <\/p>\n
But anyone who has worked with him over the years knows that almost everything is a moveable feast. <\/p>\n
If Draper has a good Wimbledon run, Murray might just get a taste for it \u2013 and the show will go on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WIMBLEDON \u2014 It was a memorable feature of Jack Draper\u2019s 2024 US Open run, the constant advice he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[6764,7258,101,28022,118,56,54,55,116],"class_list":["post-663790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-andy-murray","tag-jack-draper","tag-sports","tag-sports-explainer","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wimbledon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}