Jack Draper joins Katie Boulter in hitting back at Emma Raducanu's Andy Murray comment

Andy Murray might have been labelled “old news” by Emma Raducanu, but it’s not an opinion shared by fellow British star Jack Draper. The 22-year-old has become a firm friend of the Scottish icon, and has regularly lauded the influence of the now retired star on his own career.

This week’s US Open signifies the first Grand Slam event since Murray walked away from the sport at the Paris Olympics.

And now Draper, who begins his campaign against China’s Zhizhen Zhang, has admitted it will be strange not having the three-time Grand Slam winner with him at Flushing Meadows.

“It seems a bit weird not having Andy there with his rancid, stinking shoes next to me in the locker room,” he joked. “Andy's shoes would always be drying out next to me with his wedding ring on them.

“I’ve been next to him in the locker room and you'd have his shoes, his wet grips – ‘Give me some space to sit down!’ But I do miss his presence a lot. I feel a responsibility to really play good tennis and be the British No 1. We miss Andy but things have to come to an end and hopefully I can keep on going and the other players as well.”

Draper added that he would miss Murray’s humour on the circuit as well as his tennis influence. “l’ll miss the camaraderie, the nonsense, the banter and the serious chats as well,” he added. “I miss those moments in the locker room before matches when you've got someone as great as Andy next to you.”

Those words were in stark contrast to the initial view offered by Raducanu, who controversially denied the Scot a farewell match at Wimbledon this summer after withdrawing from their mixed doubles match. Upon her own arrival in New York, she suggested Murray’s presence would not be missed.

“No it doesn't feel different at all," she said. "I think tennis is unforgiving in that sense no matter who you are, it just moves on. "There's always another tournament. Of course Andy's achieved amazing things and I watched him win this tournament but it's fast-paced like life is. It's old news the next day."

Raducanu’s blunt verdict was opposed by another British player in Katie Boulter though. She responded to the comments by praising Murray for helping bring through a new generation of UK players.

“His legacy lives on. I walk past his pictures here every day. What an incredible player,” shea said. “I think everything that he's done for us is incredible. I think it put British tennis on another level, and inspired so many kids, myself included. I think what he's done for this game is above and beyond.”

Boulter’s campaign in New York also starts today with a match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich. 2021 champion Raducanu meanwhile, who joins Murray in being one of just two British players to have won a Slam in the past 47 years, faces Sofia Kenin.