Jack Draper rewarded for solid US Open run with place on Britain's Davis Cup team
- Planet Sport writer
- 5 September 2023
After making it to the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time in his career at the US Open, Jack Draper has been added to Britain's Davis Cup team for next week's matches in Manchester.
The 21-year-old again showed his huge potential by outperforming the rest of Britain's singles players in New York, pushing eighth seed Andrey Rublev to four sets before bowing out on Monday.
Draper has struggled with injuries throughout the season and was a doubt for the US Open because of a shoulder problem so it was encouraging that his body held up through four best-of-five-set matches.
He joins Cameron Norrie, Dan Evans, Andy Murray and Neal Skupski in the side for matches against Australia, Switzerland and France beginning next Wednesday at the AO Arena.
It is the second time Leon Smith has called up Draper, who stayed on the bench during February's victory over Colombia.
His inclusion presents captain Smith with a tricky selection decision given Norrie, Evans and Murray are significantly more experienced but none of the trio have had a great season, with British number one Norrie in particular in something of a rut.
Calling up Draper also indicates that Smith will rely on Wimbledon champion Skupski and Evans as his doubles partnership having overlooked Joe Salisbury, who is in the quarter-finals in New York with American partner Rajeev Ram.
Britain need to finish in the top two of the four-team group to make it through to the final stages of the competition in Malaga in November.
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