Emma Raducanu must establish greater consistency in her performances before she can be regarded as Jack Draper’s equal despite being a Grand Slam champion already, according to Jamie Murray. The brother of two-time Wimbledon champion Andy believes Draper occupies a far stronger position, despite his earlier exit at SW19 this year compared to Raducanu.
Draper entered Wimbledon as the men’s fourth seed – marking the highest-ranked British player at a Grand Slam since Andy Murray in 2017 – yet suffered a second-round defeat to Marin Cilic. Nevertheless, the 23-year-old sits fifth in global rankings following his US Open semi-final appearance last year and his Indian Wells triumph in March.
Meanwhile, Raducanu progressed to the third round, defeating 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova before falling to world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in a tense battle. Her victory over Vondrousova and showing against Sabalenka provided considerable hope for Raducanu, though she has surrendered her status as Britain’s top-ranked player, with both Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal now positioned above her at number 45 in the world.
Murray acknowledged encouraging signs from the 2021 US Open champion at Wimbledon, but cautioned against drawing parallels with Draper.
Speaking to Mirror Sport, he said: “She actually got a good draw, playing a young British girl (Mimi Xu) in the first match. But if you’re unseeded then you’re going to have to play top players pretty early in the event.
“I would say the third round is a good result, all things considered. She had a competitive match with Sabalenka. Hopefully she goes and has a good summer in America. But it’s not like Jack – he was number four in the world [at Wimbledon]. He’s putting results together all the time, he’s proven that he’s world-class and a top player.”
Commenting on Raducanu’s world ranking of No. 45, he continued: “That’s miles away from being at the level that Jack is at. Of course she had an unbelievable result at the US Open. But she obviously needs to win a lot more matches to be talked about as a contender for these tournaments.
“But of course, the hype is obviously massive based on her story of winning the US Open a few years ago. Not to talk bad about Emma, but Jack is in a completely different place in his career than where she is.
“Jack had a disappointing Wimbledon for him, but it was a tough draw in Cilic when the guy has won Grand Slams, been in finals, loves playing on grass and is a former Queens winner, that’s a tough match for him.
“I’m sure he’ll come back stronger next year and in the future years and he’ll be at the top of the game for 10 years – he’ll be one of the guys in that chasing pack trying to get to the level of [Jannik] Sinner and [Carlos] Alcaraz and compete with them on the biggest stage.
“I’m excited for Jack and what’s to come for him. I don’t think this Wimbledon is going to define how his future career goes in any shape or form.”
Meanwhile, British tennis stalwart Andy Murray, at 39, has expressed concern over the nation’s development of emerging talent. Despite a record number of British players in the singles draws at Wimbledon, the most since 1984, Murray highlighted a critical flaw.
“You’ve got 23 people in the main draw, but 16 of them are wild cards,” he remarked. “So that’s seven players across the men and women in the main draw. I wouldn’t say that’s fantastic at all for a nation that’s got much cash behind it every year. That’s not great numbers at all, but that’s where we are.”