Jack Draper: Affirmations help “create your own reality”

ROME, Italy—When Jack Draper opens his phone, the first thing he sees is a daily affirmation.

The 23-year-old Brit credits the power of positive thinking with kickstarting his career, one that has already seen him capture a Masters 1000 title at the BNP Paribas Open and reach another final at the Mutua Madrid Open only last week.

“I suppose when I was 18 during lockdown, I went through some stuff mentally,” Draper told Tennis Channel, echoing a similar sentiment expressed by Madrid champion Casper Ruud last week. “I came to a conclusion that if I wanted to change my view on life or change my perspective, I was going to have to take responsibility for that.”

I’m a big believer that you can create your own reality...accept the struggle and hard work. It’s going to be hard most days. That’s the biggest message I send to myself: I have the power to achieve anything I put my mind to. Jack Draper

Though Draper avoids more traditional New Age techniques like meditation, the world No. 5 has gained much from affirmations and self-talk, the latter helping him score a breakthrough win over Carlos Alcaraz two months ago in Indian Wells.

“After that set went away, I went to the toilet and just, yeah, kind of looked at myself in the mirror and was like, ‘You need to really, you need to really get my stuff together,’” he said after recovering from a second-set bagel to win, 6-1, 0-6, 6-4.

Draper has taken the technique onto clay, where he is in the midst of a career-best run on the surface, beating more established dirtballers like Matteo Arnaldi and Lorenzo Musetti en route to the final in Madrid.

“I’m a big believer that you can create your own reality, have good people around you, have good energy, accept the struggle and hard work. It’s going to be hard most days. That’s the biggest message I send to myself: I have the power to achieve anything I put my mind to.

“I don’t do a lot of mindfulness, but I do a lot of telling myself that I’m on the right path and doing the right thing.”

Something else he might be manifesting is another doubles partnership with world No. 1 Jannik Sinner. The two paired up last summer at the Omnium Banque Nationale in Montréal, and Draper teased a reunion now that Sinner is cleared to play following his suspension.

“I think it might happen this year, somewhere. We’ll have to see,” Draper said. “I enjoyed getting to play with the No. 1 player. That was pretty good.”

Seeded fifth at the Foro Italico, Draper will kick off his week in Rome against either Bu Yunchaokete or Luciano Darderi.