Jack Draper was looking to advance to his third final of the year, on a third unique surface.
In March, Draper won his first career Masters 1000 title on the hard courts at Indian Wells, taking down Denmark’s Holger Rune in the final.
Two months later, the British star made a breakthrough on the clay, when Draper qualified for the Madrid Open final, narrowly coming up short against Casper Ruud in three sets.
Looking to complete the set and reach a grass-court ATP final, Draper took on Czechia’s Jiri Lehecka in the Queen’s semi-finals.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be as Lehecka beat Draper 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, to book his place in Sunday’s final.
Reacting to Draper’s defeat, Queen’s tournament director Jamie Murray gave his verdict on the Brit’s Wimbledon chances.
Jamie Murray says there’s no reason to ‘panic’ and still considers Jack Draper a Wimbledon favorite
Talking to Claire Balding on BBC Sport after the match, Murray suggested whether the defeat would affect Draper’s chances of winning Wimbledon.
“There’s absolutely no reason to stress or panic about what might happen at Wimbledon,” he said.
“I’m sure when he looks back on it tomorrow, next couple of days, he will be happy he came here, played four matches, had a lot of battles.
“There were no easy matches for him, which bodes well for him going into the tournament.
Not only does Murray think there’s no reason to panic, but he still considers Draper to be one of the favorites for the title.
“He’s got so much good in him; he’s having an amazing year. We’re really hoping he’s going to have a great Wimbledon,” he said.
“He will be absolutely one of the favorites behind [Jannik] Sinner and [Carlos] Alcaraz heading into that tournament.
Reaching the Queen’s semi-finals, Draper guaranteed himself a top-four seeding at Wimbledon.
The Brit will now avoid playing the likes of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz until the last four at the All England Club.
Top four seeds at Wimbledon 2025
- 1. Jannik Sinner.
- 2. Carlos Alcaraz
- 3. Alexander Zverev
- 4. Jack Draper
Keen to play down the top-four seeding after winning his quarterfinal match on Friday, Draper chose not to get ahead of himself.
“I keep being asked by journalists about the top four seeding. It’s like, well, I have got to get to the semis first,” said Draper
“I mean, that’s not guaranteed.”
Draper will now rest up ahead of Wimbledon, a tournament one ex-British star thinks he will tackle with ‘a lot of confidence’.
John Lloyd says Jack Draper will take ‘a lot of confidence’ into Wimbledon following Queen’s run
1977 Australian Open finalist John Lloyd weighed in with his thoughts on Draper’s performance against Lehecka, highlighting the shot that let him down.
“It’s difficult to be critical of him, the first few rounds he wasn’t playing at his best, but he was getting through it,” said Lloyd.
“On big occasions, he came up with big shots, which is what the great players do.
“Today, his serve just disappeared a little bit during the crucial periods, and at this level, if you’re playing someone who’s playing as well as Lehecka, you can be in trouble, but it can happen to anybody.”
On the other hand, Lloyd praised Draper for using the crowd to great effect in London.
“He gets so fired up, I love the fact that he embraces the crowds up here, when he’s in trouble, he gets aggressive, he’s not afraid of anything these days,” he said.
“He’s improved his all-around game; he’s such a good competitor now. This match could have gone either way.
“He will take a lot of confidence going into Wimbledon the way he’s playing.”
There’s no question that Draper will have the crowd on side once more when he makes his fourth Wimbledon appearance later this month.
He has yet to reach the third round at Wimbledon, statistically his worst-performing Grand Slam event.
| Tournament | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Win/Loss | Win % |
| Australian Open | – | – | 1R | 2R | 4R | 4-3 | 57% |
| French Open | – | – | 1R | 1R | 4R | 3-3 | 50% |
| Wimbledon | 1R | 2R | – | 2R | – | 2-3 | 40% |
| US Open | 3R | 4R | SF | – | 10-3 | 77% |
Draper will certainly be hoping to make a deep run this time around, heading to SW19 as the number four seed.
The 2025 Wimbledon tournament is scheduled to begin on Monday, June 30.
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