British tennis star Jack Draper has shaken up his coaching team ahead of the US Open.
Jack Draper kicks off his US Open campaign next week (Image: Getty)
Jack Draper has axed ‘supercoach’ Wayne Ferreira from his training staff and will revert to working solely with James Trotman. Ferreira and Trotman achieved good results following the establishment of a two-man team in April, but the set-up did not last long as the parties opted to make the change before the US Open main draw gets underway next week.
Ferreira has a stellar coaching reputation, having taken Frances Tiafoe from the 80s to the top 10 in the ATP world rankings between 2020 and 2023.
His results with Draper were also positive, as the 22-year-old toppled Carlos Alcaraz at Queen’s, won the Stuttgart Open and skyrocketed up the world rankings during their brief time working together.
However, The Telegraph claim that Draper and Ferreira have parted ways after only four months. Ferreira was keen to reinvent Draper as a clinical finisher at the net in order to put his stature to good use, which marked a change from the fundamentals preached by Trotman.
The differences seemingly proved irreconcilable as Ferreira is now back on the market. The South African reached a peak world ranking of No.6 during his playing days and nurtured a reputation as a giant-killer.
Ferreira is one of only a select few players to boast a positive head-to-head record against all-time legend Roger Federer. The Swiss star’s nemesis won two out of their three meetings, which all took place in 2001.
Draper’s best Grand Slam performance came at last year’s US Open, where he lost to Andrey Rublev in the fourth round. He will hope to go one better in 2024, having arrived at Flushing Meadows in impressive form.
The Sutton-born star beat Stefanos Tsitsipas and Felix Auger-Aliassime before losing to Holger Rune in the Cincinnati Masters quarter-finals this month. And former British No.1 Tim Henman is optimistic about Draper’s chances of success.