Jack Draper shared a touching photo on social media after his British ATP rival achieved a new career record.
With Andy Murray’s retirement coming at the Paris Olympics in August, British hopes have been instantly reinvigorated.
Jack Draper made his way to the US Open semi-finals without dropping a set, before losing to eventual champion Jannik Sinner.
A gruelling end to his US Open run was quickly made worse as Draper battled his way through two Davis Cup defeats with injury to his thigh.
Now, just weeks after Draper complained of a ‘mental’ ATP schedule, he has been forced to retire from the Japan Open quarter-final with an abdominal issue and ruled himself out of the Shanghai Masters.
However, while Draper’s hopes of a strong end to the year look shattered, another British player has been rising through the ranks at monumental pace.
Jack Draper sends message to Jacob Fearnley after Brit joins top 100
A stellar summer for the college student Jacob Fearnley saw him take a set off Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon.
The Brit, who plays his tennis at TCU, has picked up his fourth career Challenger title this year and entered the top 100 for the first time, after having been ranked 270th in June.
Born just six months apart, Draper shared a photograph on X of the pair on Wimbledon’s centre court when they were children.
Alongside the picture, he wrote: “So happy for Jacob Fearnley…. Top 100 !!! A great friend from young but we went on our own paths. An amazing guy and incredible player. You deserve this !!! Only the beginning.”
Fearnley joins his friend Draper as the only British tennis player to have won four Challenger titles in a single season.
READ MORE: Who is Jacob Fearnley? Everything you need to know
Jacob Fearnley and Sonay Kartal are renewing British tennis hopes
Not considered unreasonable to lament Murray’s reluctant retirement, the subsequent flourish a handful of new Brit’s have seen has quickly patched up those wounds.
Sonay Kartal made British WTA history after her title win in Monastir. Kartal’s ascent into the top 100 alongside Katie Boulter, Emma Raducanu, and Harriet Dart, marked the first time in 12-years that four British women have been ranked so highly.
While Draper and Raducanu continue to be hampered by injury, once again, others are filling in where they can’t.
Despite not having the Grand Slam pedigree Murray had, this latest surge in British tennis is nothing but positive.
Patience and consistency will be the real test of whether this is just a temporary patch of form, or a sign of good things to come.
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