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Two and a half hours into one of the most unforgettable battles of his career, Jack Draper resolved to attack without hesitation, regardless of the outcome. On two pivotal points in his Indian Wells fourth-round match against Novak Djokovic, at 4-4 in the tie-break and then on match point at 6-6, Draper forced himself inside the baseline and unleashed two backhands, those shots driving him to victory.
It would have been understandable for Draper to have played passive tennis in those decisive moments. Not only did Indian Wells mark his second ATP tournament back after sustaining a bone bruise to his left arm that forced him off the tour for seven months, the injury has forced him to make dramatic changes to his game.
Draper returns to the circuit using natural gut strings in a hybrid string setup. Until this year, the 24-year-old had spent his career playing with synthetic polyester strings in his mains and crosses, respectively the vertical and horizontal strings within his racket’s string bed, but Draper and his team decided that it was appropriate for him to switch to natural gut in his mains.
Natural gut strings are made from cow intestines and for a large part of the 20th century they were the only viable string option for elite players. However, the modernisation of professional tennis has been driven by the introduction of poly strings. While natural gut strings are much softer and more elastic, allowing players more power and feel, the firmer poly strings have helped modern players to consistently hit with greater spin and control while swinging freely from all parts of the court.
At 6ft 4in, Draper generates significant power and his spinny forehand is one of the heaviest in the game. These changes plainly do not suit his playing style. However, the elasticity of the strings make them far friendlier to the arm and body. Considering he has a history of left-arm injuries, he decided this was the way forward.
“It was to do with doing anything to help my injury be better,” Draper says. “Look, it’s still a great string, the gut. But in the way everyone’s playing now, playing to hit the ball quite hard, and usually it goes in and that’s what poly does for the racket, so the gut’s a bit of an adjustment. But it was the decision for my body; it wasn’t a decision for performance.”
Although full natural gut setups are all but extinct in the modern era, gut strings are still common on the tour in the form of poly-gut hybrid setups as players try to extract the best qualities from both swings. Of the current top 10, half of the players use a poly/natural gut hybrid: Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Alex de Minaur, Taylor Fritz and Daniil Medvedev. However, they all do so because they believe it improves their games. Draper admits he still has reservations about the change.
“The string is a hell of a lot softer, you can’t take full swings, sometimes you have to adapt to the conditions, the string, obviously being a softer string it flies a hell of a lot more,” he says. “So for someone who’s always hit the ball the way I do, sometimes you have to adjust your mindset a little bit and almost play within yourself because the string does a lot of work for you. So that’s the biggest adjustment, it’s a mental one to decide what shot you’re going to play, when you’re going to play it, because it sometimes comes off a bit different.”
The past seven tumultuous months have taken Draper on a similar journey with his serve. He spent much of his time away working tirelessly on changing his service motion, which he now executes with a slightly simplified motion and a changed stance. While he used to utilise the pinpoint stance in his service motion, dragging his legs close together before launching into his serve, he now uses a platform stance, executing his serve with a wider, more stable base, his feet separated.
Although his serve has room for improvement, it has always been a strong asset. Draper won 86.1% of service games last year, which placed him 11th on the tour. His reasons for making this change are identical to his string change; the platform serve leads to less stress on the upper body.
“I definitely looked into how I can make my serve a bit more stable, a bit less going on. When you have to step up, especially being a lefty, you can get the ball tossed too far out in front and not use your legs properly. My serve has always been a weapon but probably not using my chain well enough. I think the platform gives me more stability and I’m able to protect my body better, so I’m still early days with that and hopefully it makes a big difference in the long run.”
His performances in Indian Wells provided him with important evidence that he can continue to soar at the highest level even as he adjusts to this new normal.
