US Open 2024: Jack Draper vs Jannik Sinner – semi-final preview & how to watch | LTA
It is clear that Draper will face his biggest test yet at the US Open when he goes up against the top-ranked player in the world and the reigning Australian Open winner.
Sinner made a strong comeback towards the end of 2023 by coming in second place at the Nitto ATP Finals. He then went on to lead Italy to their second-ever Davis Cup victory.
After that, he continued his impressive performance by winning his first Grand Slam championship in Melbourne. He also went on to win titles at the Miami Open, Cincinnati Open, Rotterdam, and Halle. Additionally, he reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros. Currently, his record for the season is 53 wins and 5 losses.
Draper is having a very impressive season so far. The British player achieved a big milestone by winning his first ATP title in Stuttgart, making it to the final in Adelaide, and earning a career-best win against former world No.1 and four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz.
Draper is the lone player in the men's singles semi-finals who has not lost a set at the US Open. He is also the first player to achieve this feat since Daniil Medvedev in 2020.
He is now one of only four British men to make it to the semi-finals in Flushing Meadows, alongside Greg Rusedski in 1997, Tim Henman in 2004, and Andy Murray in 2008, 2011, and 2012.
US Open Key Stats
The Brit has been using his serve as a powerful weapon in the tournament, gaining a reputation as one of the top servers on the Tour.
In the recent games against Tomas Mahac and Alex de Minaur, Draper has been hitting his first serve with accuracy, achieving a 78% and 84% success rate. His powerful left-handed serve is proving to be a major weapon, causing significant trouble for his opponents.
Nevertheless, there is one particular aspect he will focus on enhancing, which is the reliability of his initial serve. In the match against Mahac, he successfully landed 47% of his first serves, and improved to 56% against De Minaur. In order to defeat the top-ranked player, Draper will aim to increase this percentage and apply pressure on Sinner.
In crucial moments of his matches, Draper has shown great skill under pressure. He successfully saved all six break points in the fourth round, and five out of seven in the quarter-final. He also managed to break his opponent's serve six times in both matches.
Sinner has been gaining momentum in this tournament, especially with impressive wins against world No. 14 Tommy Paul and Medvedev in the earlier rounds. The Italian has shown skill at moving towards the net in both matches. Against Paul, he won 80% of points at the net (20 out of 25), and 85% (28 out of 33) against Medvedev – surpassing his opponent's percentages by more than 10% in both instances.
Draper won't have many easy points to take advantage of. Sinner has only made four double faults in his last three matches and has made significantly fewer unforced errors than his opponents, with an average of 25% less.
Guide To Watching Draper Vs Sinner
You have the opportunity to catch the US Open quarter-finals featuring Jack Draper and Jannik Sinner on Sky Sports Tennis and Now TV.
