Jack Draper’s rapid rise is the talk of the town! He is currently receiving a mix of reactions for his incredible feat at the 2024 Stuttgart Open. While most of them are congratulating the 22-year-old tennis player for becoming the youngest British number one since Andy Murray in 2009, a few think he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth! However, the 30-year-old British tennis pro, Liam Broady ain’t one of them. He has strongly condemned those statements from a Novak Djokovic fan recently on social media.

The fan highlighted that Jack Draper is the son of multi-millionaire, Roger Draper who was the CEO of LTA from 2006 to 2013. Lawn Tennis Association governs the sport in the UK. He and his parents would often spend weekends traveling to different parts of the country competing in various junior events. Growing up with both of his parents involved in the sport made Draper soon develop a passion for tennis. However, the Novak Djokovic fan believes, “There were many youngsters more talented than Jack but didn’t have the finance or support to continue.” He said this is exactly where he thinks the LTA has “failed“.

After seeing this post, Lima Broady quickly jumped into the scene and defended Jack Draper by saying, “Who were the youngsters that were more talented than Jack growing up? As far as I’m aware Jack was one of very the best in his age group from an early age. Doesn’t sit right with me this tweet as he can’t help what his Dad has, works harder than anybody, and is incredibly humble.“

The fan then went on to claim that the “LTA have mismanaged funds” and stated that this has also led to many talented players from low-income families leaving the sport.

Broady then went on to add that he’s “not sure” of this as he’s a players’ representative for the British men this year. He claimed that he also trains at the National Tennis Center. Although Liam Broady didn’t disagree with the point of “letting down players from low-income backgrounds“, he felt it was not right to use Jack Draper’s name to make a point in this issue.

Later on, the fan came up with his own version of clarification that he didn’t have intentions to disregard Jack Draper’s incredible talent. Do you know Jack Draper’s father once approached Novak Djokovic to play for Britain? 

“I was surprised” – Novak Djokovic speaks of Jack Draper’s father’s interesting proposal to him during his teens

Jack Draper and Novak Djokovic have only played against each other once in their careers so far. However, what if they had both played with each other in a doubles event, representing Great Britain in the tennis world? The Serbian tennis reportedly once received this interesting proposal in his teens to make him play for another nation. Djokovic supposedly said, “I don’t know who at that time was discussing the potential citizenship for me with my dad, because my dad and my mom, they were discussing with people from LTA.“

He further went on to add, “I was surprised with what I read about Jack’s father. Yeah, it’s kind of an interesting information.” Novak Djokovic said this happened a very long time ago and they did get an offer from them but the discussion was “very short“.

Although it was very challenging for them to sustain a career as a professional player, he apparently revealed his parents didn’t want to move from Serbia. Share your thoughts on this interesting story surrounding Novak Djokovic and Jack Draper’s father.