British tennis is in a strange place at the moment, with a handful of really talented players on both the men’s and women’s sides, but relatively little to show for it.
With Jack Draper though, things felt different, and all of a sudden it became a genuine possibility that we might have another Grand Slam challenger after Emma Raducanu’s recent struggles and Andy Murray’s retirement.
Injury issues have completely derailed the promising start of his career, but there is belief that he will be back to his best in 2027.
And, if that is to be the case, he will be flanked by plenty of in-form players, all of whom will be vying to prove everyone wrong and establish themselves amongst the elite.
The collective form of British tennis has definitely improved since their dire French Open campaign.
How British players performed at the 2026 French Open
It was a historically poor trip to the French capital for British players this year, with not a single man or woman surpassing the second round.
In fact, with Cameron Norrie, Jacob Fearnley and Toby Samuel all exiting in round one, there were no men at all in the second round, with Emma Raducanu also joining them in losing straight away.
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Francesca Jones and Katie Boulter clawed some credibility back, but even they were powerless to put together a run, both suffering second-round defeats.
Realistically, things got no better at Wimbledon either, with Arthur Fery’s stunning run to the semi-final papering over the cracks of a dire start to their home event.
By the end of the first round, 15 of the 19 Brits in the singles draw were gone. This was the highest number of opening-round exits for home players at Wimbledon since 1988.
It’s therefore surprising to see how all these players have turned their seasons around, and instead found positivity where there was little ahead of the 2027 season.
A strong end to the 2026 season by British tennis stars
That being said, the bulk of this positivity is coming from the WTA side of British tennis.
After all, the past few weeks have seen Sonay Kartal, Boulter and now Harriet Dart all enjoy strong and surprising runs, restoring confidence at last.
The former shone first, reaching the Wuhan Open final before sadly losing to Maja Chwalinska.
Boulter then followed that up by reaching the semi-finals in Osaka, before Dart finally did what her compatriots could not.
After a stunning week in Guangzhou, she came from a set down in the final to beat Lilli Tagger, just days after she had also knocked out stars like Janice Tjen and Paula Badosa.
