Briton Jack Draper inching towards top five in world rankings

Jack Draper is just two wins away from breaking into the top five in the world rankings after an injury-interrupted victory over Matteo Berrettini at the Madrid Open.

It was not classic Draper, but these days even his moderate performances are good enough to make life difficult for his opponents – especially when they come into the match carrying a niggling injury.

Berrettini had shown signs of discomfort towards the end of his three-set comeback win over Marcos Giron in the previous round. By the later stages of the first set against Draper, he was stretching out what looked to be a rib or abdominal strain.

This will be worrying for the 2021 Wimbledon finalist, who has been dealing with chronic pain in this area since he suffered his first rib injury more than four years ago. You need a strong abdomen in order to serve quickly, and Berrettini’s massive serve is the cornerstone of his whole game.

“Matteo is someone who’s always so positive and so full of energy,” Draper told Sky Sports pundit Annabel Croft afterwards. “Today, I noticed that he wasn’t. So maybe that gave away that he’s still feeling a bit of something, and his serve power was a bit down. But as Matteo always does, he competed really hard. He put on a really high level still.”

Draper made a slow start, dropping serve in the opening game of the match, but gradually gathered momentum and was comfortably the better player in a first-set tie-break.

He took that first set with a barnstorming forehand which clipped the back of the baseline at great speed. Moments later, Berrettini shook hands apologetically and withdrew from the court, leaving Draper to consider his upcoming fourth-round meeting with the USA’s Tommy Paul.

“He’s a great competitor, someone who always shows up and plays really well against me,” said Draper of Paul, who is the 11th seed in Madrid. “We played a few times now, and I think last time he got me at Queen’s. That hurt a lot, so I’m looking forward to this next encounter for sure.”

A big surprise in Madrid! 🚨

Matteo Berrettini retires after losing a first-set tie break to Jack Draper, with the Brit now through to the final 16 ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/JhIazWAu1j

— Sky Sports Tennis (@SkySportsTennis) April 29, 2025

Should Draper win two more matches and reach the semi-finals, he will overtake Novak Djokovic and move into the world’s top five, behind only Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz.

During Sky’s post-match interview, Croft asked Draper how he had spent Monday. He should have played this match 24 hours earlier, but a massive power outage across Spain and Portugal halted the Madrid Open. Players were left dining by candlelight and walking for up to two hours to reach their hotel rooms.

“I’ve been here for like, eight days now,” Draper said. “I had only played one match [an impressive 6-3, 6-4 win over Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor] so it was tough having another day off. But at the same time, it was quite nice to not have any socials, not have the phone on. I want to get away from all that anyway. I actually ended up reading a book for once.”

Earlier in the day, Britain’s other two surviving players had been eliminated from the tournament.

First Jacob Fearnley lost to Grigor Dimitrov in a match that required only four extra games, having been suspended overnight. And yet, despite his 6-4, 7-6 defeat. Fearnley still came away from Madrid with his first top-20 scalp – that of the Czech Republic’s Tomas Machac – and enough points to lift him ten or 11 places on the rankings ladder. He will probably reach a new career high of No 57 or 58 when the next chart is published on Monday.

Then it was Cameron Norrie’s turn. Playing lucky loser Gabriel Diallo of Canada, Norrie dominated the first set but wound up losing by a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 margin. His season still hasn’t really got going, with no more than two victories at any tournament and an overall win-loss record of 11-12.