Jack Draper, as the outstanding player leading British hopes at Wimbledon, now knows who he will have to beat if he is to become the champion.
And it doesn’t make for nice reading.
The 23-year-old has been handed a nightmare draw, with his projected round one, two and three opponents all being high-quality opposition.
Should he make it through this devastating portion, things are only due to get tougher.
Jack Draper will need to summon all his quality, perseverance and grit if he is to just make it into the fourth round, let alone the final.
Jack Draper’s route to the Wimbledon final revealed in draw
Starting off his conquest to become the first man since Andy Murray to lift this coveted title, Draper has been given the task of overcoming Sebastian Baez, a former world number 18 who has historically struggled on grass.
However, that is where the relative ease stops.
In the second round, he is poised to meet with former Grand Slam champion Marin Cilic, before Alexander Bublik, the player that nobody wanted to see on their side of the draw, is expected to await in the third round.
And this is all just in his small early section of the draw.
Whilst Carlos Alcaraz sits on the opposite side of the draw, Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic have both been bunched up on Draper’s half, meaning he will have to overcome so many elite players just for the pleasure of likely playing the two-time defending champion in the final.
Emma Raducanu’s Wimbledon draw, frustratingly, has not been any kinder.
Jack Draper handed nightmare Wimbledon situation
Bublik was the nightmare situation at Wimbledon that nobody wanted, and it’s Draper who has been tasked with dealing with him.
The wily 28-year-old, who actually knocked the British number one out of the French Open earlier this month, will have all of his best traits enhanced on the grass.
His serves will fly that little bit quicker, and his groundstrokes will similarly speed up on this surface. As such, Draper will likely take a step back, and leave himself even more open to being drop-shotted into submission just as he was in Paris.
Bublik is a nightmare for any player to face, let alone on grass.
It will be interesting to see how Draper contends with this horrific draw in the first Wimbledon where he is really expected to impress.
