British No. 1 Jack Draper will compete at the second edition of the Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia from Oct 15 to 18. As part of the Riyadh Season, the athlete will compete along with the other top five PIF ATP (World Rankings) players in the world.
This year will be Draper’s first appearance at the event, as well as Alexander Zverev’s and Taylor Fritz’s. These athletes took the places of Rafael Nadal, Daniil Medvedev, and Holger Rune from last year’s tournament.
Currently, Draper is ranked No. 5 in the world. He won the Indian Wells over Rune and was runner-up to Casper Ruud at the Madrid Open. However, he was defeated by Marin Cilic in the second round at Wimbledon. The athlete expressed his disappointment with this loss and admitted that he was not satisfied with his performance on the grass courts.
“I’ve been really disappointed with the way my game’s been on the grass this year, in all honesty… I wasn’t feeling too great at Queen’s. I don’t know how I made the semis there and gave myself a chance of making the final,” Draper expressed back then.
Draper also admitted that the grass courts highlighted his weaknesses as an athlete. He is aware that he is able to deliver great plays on the hard and the clay courts, but the grass courts are a difficulty that he needs to develop to become a better player. “I want to feel like everything in my game is secure. I think that’s what you see with the top guys. They’re so consistent all the time because there’s no holes in their game… In some ways that’s exciting, and in some ways that’s hard to deal with because I thought I was ahead of where I was,” the athlete declared. Read more here.
Regardless of his challenges in the past competitions this season, Jack Draper is now preparing for the US Open, having reached the semi-finals last year.
Moreover, Jannik Sinner will return to defend his title, where he won last year with a final scoreline of 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 over Alcaraz. Carlos Alcaraz will also be back to compete, alongside the 24-time Grand Slam singles champion, Novak Djokovic.
With his strong comeback, Jannik Sinner has won both the Australian Open and Wimbledon this season, but Alcaraz got ahead of Sinner at this year’s French Open. Their showdown for this tournament could be much anticipated by the fans, given that both athletes have been butting heads this year.
