Born and raised in Surrey, Draper has a strong tennis background.

The player cites his mother, Nicky, as one of his biggest inspirations, as a coach and former junior champion, and his father, Roger, was president of the Lawn Tennis Association.

His older brother, Ben, was a former college player in the US and is now looking after his brother’s interests as his manager.

Draper’s first sign of talent came when his mother imitated his older brother by hitting a tennis ball against the garage door when he was one year old.

A few years later, he took the boys to the Weybridge Tennis Academy, where Sherring (a longtime friend of the Drapers) served as head coach.

“I thought we were going to focus on Ben, so I took a swing and it was pretty good,” Sherring said.

“Nicky asked Jack if I could do a hit with him because they were looking for a coach. I said, ‘Yeah, but he’s quite small and quite young.’

“After hundreds of shots I said, ‘Wow.'”

Draper remained under Sherring’s tutelage for the next decade, and the pair traveled around the world, honing their skills against other talented youngsters.

They ran mostly in Europe, also going to the Orange Bowl and ITF events in India.

Ensuring Draper continued his education was a top priority for his mother; she asked Sherring to teach him 10 words every day.

“Depending on my mood or her mood, I would think of a word she might have used for him that day, like stubborn,” she laughed.

“He would ask me what that meant and I would say, ‘okay, you’ve been saying that all day, research it and get back to me’.”

But the young man only wanted to learn tennis.

Draper, who returned after losing to a Russian teenager at an event in Sweden, questioned why he was still going to school while his opponent was training professionally.

This was the beginning of his move to home education, leaving Reed’s, an independent boys’ school in Surrey whose alumni include Tim Henman and Hollywood actor Tom Hardy.

“He started wondering why he was going to school, why he was hanging out with other kids, why he was doing what everyone else was doing, and it frustrated him,” Sherring said.

“Then after flying halfway around the world, he was defeated by – as he put it – a puppet.

“But that’s the way it goes. If it were all sunshine and roses, or strawberries and cream, you wouldn’t see the warrior you see now.”