'It fueled my fire' - Jack Draper draws inspiration from Emma Raducanu's 'fairytale run' ahead of US Open semi-final against Jannik Sinner

Jack Draper's quest for his maiden Grand Slam title has progressed well so far, but next up is a tough challenge. The 22-year-old will be facing World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the first semi-final of the US Open 2024 on Saturday, September 7.

As he gears up for the most important match of his career, the Briton has revealed that he has been inspired by his compatriot Emma Raducanu. In the 2021 US Open, Raducanu upset the odds to go all the way and write her name in the history books. She defeated Leylah Fernandez to win her maiden Grand Slam title at the age of 18.

Taking inspiration from Raducanu’s “fairytale run”, Draper, speaking ahead of his match against Sinner, said he wants to achieve what she did three years ago.

“What Emma did was obviously incredibly inspiring. I’ve known her from a young age and to see what she did was incredible. I was very proud of her, very excited, watching it thinking, obviously we’ve watched the likes of Andy Murray winning a grand slam from Great Britain, but her winning, it was just really a fairytale run. I definitely think as a competitor, it fueled my fire. I really wanted to achieve what she’d done, winning a grand slam,” the 22-year-old said.

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Can Draper continue his dream run against Sinner? 

Draper kicked off his US Open 2024 campaign with a comfortable win against Zhizhen Zhang. He defeated Facundo Diaz Acosta, Botic van de Zandschulp and Tomas Machac in the subsequent rounds. In the quarterfinals, the British top seed faced a tough challenge in the form of 10th seed Alex de Minaur. However, Draper came on top with a score of 6-3, 7-5, 6-2. 

Sinner and Draper met each other at the Qeens’s Club in 2021, in which the latter won 7-6 (6), 7-6(2). The Italian is in search of his maiden US Open title. Notably, he recently won the Cincinnati Open title and is in red-hot form. 

Also Check: US Open 2024 Semi-Finals: Jannik Sinner vs Jack Draper Muchova preview, stats and odds