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Sir Andy Murray has issued a bullish bulletin on the fitness and ability of Jack Draper before Wimbledon, revealing that he has been practising on court most days and hailing his tennis as “bloody good”.
Draper has plummeted to No 113 in the world due to a series of injuries, having been ranked fourth last year, and has not played since the Barcelona Open in April. But Murray, who has been working with the British player for the last month at the LTA’s National Tennis Centre as an adviser and temporary coach, believes that his body is now on the mend.
“Jack is supposed to be playing in Eastbourne next week,” Murray said at Queen’s Club. “He’s been training and getting ready for that. He’s been on the court most days for the last few weeks.
“His tennis is bloody good. He’s really good. Obviously he’s had lots of issues the last year with various injuries. I feel like he’s starting to come out the other side of that now. The next step is getting on the match court and getting a consistent run of tournaments and weeks under him and building trust again in his body.”
Draper has had knee and elbow problems, while his latest setback has been caused by an issue with his serving shoulder. However, Murray says he has been surprised by the quality of Draper’s play in the sessions they have done together.
“I get to spend a decent amount of time with Jack,” said Murray. “I also believe a lot in his tennis. In the sessions I’ve done with him, I’ve been more impressed probably than what I expected. And I thought he was bloody good before I started helping him.
“He’s a quick learner. He’s got very few holes in his game. He’s a more complete player than probably what I expected as well.”
Murray confirmed that while his partnership with Draper could continue for the build up to the US Open, his priority is being at home for his family. “I really like Jack, and I wanted to help him when he asked if I could,” said Murray, who retired after the Paris Olympics in 2024 and then coached Novak Djokovic for four months at the start of 2025. “But I was quite clear about what I could and couldn’t do.”
“I still want to be able to pick my kids up from school, drop them off at home,” he added. “If that wasn’t something that worked for him, then that was also absolutely fine. But I said I’d still love to help you if you would like that.
“He’s asked for me to help him over this next period. I’ve enjoyed being on court with him. We’ll see how the next few weeks pan out.”
Murray is yet to coach Draper from courtside in a match but insisted that he had no problems being in that role when working with Djokovic. “I didn’t find it weird when I was watching matches with Novak,” he said.
“The buildup to the matches and stuff I found quite hard. Because you need to get your communication with the player right. Making sure you’ve got the right courts booked, practice partners, balls, rackets, strategy. All of those sorts of things. You want that to go smoothly. And then once the player is out on the court, I found it quite easy.”
At Queen’s Club, Britain’s Arthur Fery shrugged off a bloody nose that delayed play for six minutes to overcome Adrian Mannarino and reach his first ATP quarter-final. Fery, a wild card who is ranked 140 in the world, had to be given medication by a physiotherapist after his left nostril started to bleed heavily at 1-1 in the second set.
But after the 23-year-old was treated with an anticoagulant and had a tissue stuck up his nose, he returned to court to wrap up the match 7-6 (7), 6-4 against the 44th-ranked Frenchman.
“It happens to me quite often,” admitted Fery. “I’m used to it. It was maybe nerves, tiredness or the heat. I don’t know why, but it happens here and there. The physio gave me an anticoagulant, a tissue, and then a bit of Vaseline in the nose, and it stopped the bleeding.”
Afterwards Fery, who was born in Sèvres, near Paris, to French parents but grew up in London, pronounced his win as the best of his career. After writing ‘It’s Coming Home’ on the TV cameras, Fery added: “It’s so special to be playing tennis back home in London where I grew up, it’s unbelievable. It’s the best result of my career. My first quarter-final in an ATP tournament.
“It’s not easy. There are lots of ups and downs so I’m happy to get through. I can’t put too much pressure on myself.”
Fery is the only British player left in the draw but the favourite remains the No 1 seed Alex de Minaur from Australia, who brushed aside Canadian Dennis Shapovalov 6-4, 6-1. “I’m very happy with the win,” said De Minaur. “I thought it was very close to a faultless performance. I felt sharp from the very first point till the last.”
