Much of the chatter around Wimbledon in recent days has been about Andy Murray and the statue that will honour him at the All England Club by 2027.

For the first time in two decades, Murray won't play. The beacon of British men's will watch from the sidelines as Draper, the man once hailed by Tatler magazine to have a 'jawline sharper than a Stanley knife', carries the torch.

'He had competitive spirit and unbelievable craft on the court,' Draper has said of Murray.

'So whenever I watch him play, I'm reminded of the times I used to watch him and wanted to be a player myself. Watching him always inspires me the next day to want to improve even more.'

Now Draper and British tennis must look forward, not back.

'Jack Draper is going to contend for Grand Slams and Wimbledon is probably his best chance,' Nick Kyrgios, a long time friend of Murray's, told talkSPORT this week.

There are obvious differences to Murray that see Draper pique the general public's interest beyond his vicious forehand.

Nike, Vodafone, Burberry and Dunlop and all major sponsors of Draper, while he has been signed to IMG models since the age of 18 before his tennis skyrocketed.

'He is already one of the most talented athletes of his generation,' Burberry said in a statement after signing Draper up in April of this year.

Last September he was front and centre at London Fashion Week and he counts departing Vogue editor Anna Wintour as a close ally.

'She's really supportive,' Draper told the Times of the fashion titan's unwavering support. 'It was amazing to see that world.'

It underlines the modern trend of tennis players and the world of fashion. Emma Raducanu has enjoyed lucrative tie-ups with the likes of Tiffany and Dior, while Jannik Sinner is a Gucci brand ambassador.

He is single - albeit putting no energy into dating apps he has been known to frequent, like invitation-only app Raya, these days.

Draper likes a coffee but has a strict no-caffeine rule when he's playing - unless an emergency arises as it did back in October in the semi-finals of the US Open when he demanded a can of coca-cola as a Hail Mary attempt to try and down world No 1 Sinner.

But Kyrgios is right, too.

As world No 4, Draper's expectation will be for a deep run here and seeing world No 2 Carlos Alcaraz make hard work of round one will, privately no doubt, have boosted the levels of optimism.

Back in 2021, then aged just 19, Draper was a relatively unknown quantity to those outside of the tennis cognoscenti.

Draper comes from strong tennis stock. Nicky, his mum, was a junior tennis champion, while his grandparents on his mum's side were competitive players.

His brother Ben, who is now his agent, was a college tennis player at the at University of California, Berkeley, while dad, Roger, was chairman of the Lawn Tennis Association until 2013.

But even so, when he arrived here for round one of Wimbledon armed with a wildcard and handed the daunting task of facing then world No 1 Novak Djokovic on his senior debut, little was expected outside of giving it a good go.

He took a set, immediately announcing himself and endearing himself to a frenzied home crowd. These days everybody knows his name. He's gone from a 'plucky' youngster to a monster that knows he can go the distance.

Last year, too, should give Draper plenty of belief as he went through the gears at a staggering rate.

Draper won his first senior title in Stuttgart last June and quickly cemented himself as British No 1, before reaching the US Open semi-finals in September, the first British man since Murray way back in 2012 to go that far in New York.

A month later the biggest title of his career to that point arrived as he stormed to victory at the Vienna Open. Back in March he added Indian Wells, a huge title on the ATP Tour. Draper's stock is going up and up, fuelling comparisons to Murray.

'I'm not trying to be the next Andy Murray,' he told the Times in January.

'He's one of the greatest players there ever was and ever will be, and to put that level of pressure on myself, I just don't do it. I focus on achieving my own potential, whatever that looks like.'

Sadly for Draper, the spectre of Murray looms over him - and every other British men's player - until they can get themselves over the top at Wimbledon and get their hands on the trophy.

Do that and Draper will have carved out his own path to tennis supremacy, with a photoshoot or two slotted in along the way.