Jack Draper hires Sir Andy Murray’s old coach

British No 1 Jack Draper has continued his pattern of borrowing from Sir Andy Murray’s example by recruiting his former coach Jamie Delgado.

Draper already uses Murray’s former fitness trainer Matt Little, as well as his former physio Shane Annun. Now he will also have Delgado – the man who coached Murray between 2018 and 2021 – to offer instructions from his player box.

Delgado will replace Lawn Tennis Association employee James Trotman. For the past four years, Trotman has done an excellent job of overseeing Draper’s steep ascent of the rankings, which carried him up to a high point of No 4 in the world in June.

According to Draper’s management team, the move was triggered by Trotman’s desire to spend more time at home with his family.

There could also be an argument that Delgado, who was assistant coach alongside Ivan Lendl when Murray won a second Wimbledon title in 2016, has more experience at the very top end of the game.

The only way that Draper could extend his emulation of Murray would be by convincing the man himself to join his backroom staff, perhaps as a coaching consultant. But this seems unlikely to happen, at least in the short term, because Murray is spending six hours a day on the golf course, with a view to potentially entering the qualification event for the Open Championship.

Draper has already called time on his 2025 season because of a persistent bone bruise in his serving elbow. He began to suffer pain in this area in May, and played through it during the midsummer period before attempting – without success – to enter the US Open on the back of a seven-week lay-off.

Draper does have one more commitment to fulfil this year, however, as he has entered the Ultimate Tennis Showdown – an exhibition event organised by Serena Williams’s former coach Patrick Mouratoglou – at London’s Copper Box Arena from December 5 to 7.

Delgado – who is 48 – was a fine player in his own right, reaching a high point of No 121 in the world in 2001. He was hampered by only being 5ft 10in tall in an age of giants, but was technically sound and can still hit a decent ball on the training court.

Delgado began his coaching career with the talented but unpredictable Gilles Muller, a big server from Luxembourg, and then worked with Murray before spending the last three years in the camp of Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgaria’s so-called “Baby Fed”.

A man with a high tennis IQ, Delgado helped Dimitrov figure out the best way to deploy his slice-heavy game, and they might have achieved great things together were it not for the multiple injuries that hindered Dimitrov’s progress.

So far in his short but exciting career, Draper has also found it difficult to keep himself fit. His arm injury is only the latest issue to pop up after previous problems with his shoulder tendon, his hip and his abs. A burly figure by the standards of the modern game, he has tried to limit his activity by taking breaks from the tour, but the likelihood is that he will always be prone to niggles.

Draper was recently in the news for his involvement in a letter to the four grand slams which was signed by 25 leading players. The letter called for better remuneration and perks, including pension contributions, but the four majors have ignored the requests for the moment.