Jack Draper and Jack Pinnington Jones used to share a car ride and rap music on the way to the National Tennis Centre as teenagers. Now the two pals are on the same journey through the draw at Wimbledon – and the world No.4 still hasn’t changed his car.
Draper, then 17, would pick up Pinnington Jones for their early morning drive through south-west London to avoid the traffic.
And the wildcard, who has just left his US college to turn pro, recalled: “I was about 15, 16. I didn’t have a licence. I was probably practising at 10-11ish but the traffic is just a nightmare, if you go any later with the school run.
“He can’t sit in traffic, or he’d hate to sit in traffic so Jack would say: ‘Right, I’m going to be there at 6:30. You’re either there or you’re not’. I’d be half asleep every time. And I’d be there at 7am with nothing to do.
“We would play UK rap or depending on the mood. If it was the end of the week, probably something more chill. Beginning of the week, more UK rap-based.
“That’s sort of how we met, got on really well. He’s a good friend of mine and I always chat to him and get his opinion.”
And despite Draper banking £1m ($1.2m) for winning the Indian Wells Masters in March, he has not upgraded his wheels. “It’s the same car he has now, like this little Polo,” said JPJ. “He treats it awfully. He’s like, I don’t need a nice car in London, I’m going to ding it anyway.
“It’s the same car he got when he first passed. He loves it. Yeah, he has some boxing gloves in the wing mirror. Yeah, he loves it. Same car, little Polo. Runs it round.”
Draper, 23, admitted: “A couple of players did mention: ‘What are you driving that for?’ I am not into cars or into materialistic things. It is fine. It is my little go-kart.”
Asked about their early morning commutes, Draper laughed: “Would you rather go 45 minutes earlier or would you rather sit in traffic for two hours? We always argued about it because he’d be hitting at 11, I’d be hitting at 9:30. He loved coming with me. We’d have a laugh in the car. We’d be talking rubbish all morning, so.It was good fun.”
And the Polo? “A couple of players did mention: ‘What are you driving that for?’” admitted the British No.1 “I am not into cars or into materialistic things. It is fine. It is my little go-kart.”
While Draper took the fast track to professional tennis, Pinnington Jones followed Cam Norrie and Jacob Fearnley to Texas Christian University before deciding to leave after his third year to turn pro last month.
The world No.281 reached his first ATP Challenger final in Ilkley and then shocked world No.53 Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the first round to guarantee banking at least £99,000.
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Pinnington Jones, who faces No.22 seed Flavio Cobolli in the second round, said: “It’s a big decision in my life to sort of leave college early and forego my degree and play professional tennis full-time. It’s obviously now a job.
“To start your career with your best-ever win on the biggest stage you dreamt of as a child, it’s sort of a perfect storybook start for me, yeah. So really, really excited.”