Jack Draper has been told that he must leave the UK and move overseas to fulfil his potential.
The Brit continued his impressive rise over the weekend, winning his biggest career title in Vienna and breaking into the world’s top 15.
But Mark Petchey now wants to see the British No. 1 leave his home country to live in a “hot, humid place” for a few years.
Before Andy Murray had even stepped away from professional tennis, his successor emerged. Draper has enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2024, winning two titles, reaching a Grand Slam semi-final and hitting a career-high ranking of No. 15.
The 22-year-old is now keen to join the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at the top of the sport. But British tennis coach Petchey has urged Draper to leave the UK if he wants to keep progressing.
“Jack has an incredible skill set on the tennis court which to me, is much more important than his body has ever been,” he told Bally Casino.
“I’ll choose skills and weapons over physique in tennis every time as a coach.
“However, I do think Jack needs to go and live in a hot, humid place for a couple of years to make sure that he takes the stress out of what he feels like when his body starts really hurting in those conditions.”
Draper has often struggled in hot conditions during matches. He threw up at the Australian Open and the US Open, and struggled with hydration at the Olympics.
He currently lives in London with fellow British tennis player Paul Jubb. And the world No. 15 likes to get home to Sutton to see his family in between tournaments. But Petchey believes moving away will solve his problems.
He continued: “I think that would be the smartest decision that he could make and would take his Grand Slam-winning potential even higher.
“It won’t be easy for him, but if he’s going to make that sacrifice, I think it will bring him the results that he wants. Jack works his butt off on all areas of his game and anyone that thinks differently is just frankly wrong.”
Petchey isn’t the only one who thinks Draper would benefit from leaving the UK. Retired Grand Slam champion Andy Roddick faced a similar problem during his playing days.
He would head to a hotter climate to adjust to the weather ahead of the Australian Open and wants to see Draper do the same.
“My personal experience was, I would get my body ready doing sprints, lifting, doing the whole thing for a month straight in Austin,” he said on his podcast.
“We would stop in Hawaii on the way to Australia to get used to time zones, but I would literally play on this court in Hawaii that was made of lava rocks and would just cook myself for two weeks to get used [to the heat].”
