Jack Draper has been forced to pull out of Wimbledon 24 hours before his first-round match, deepening an already wretched start for British tennis at SW19. The 24-year-old, who had arrived at the Championships filled with optimism after a run to the semi-finals of Eastbourne and with former Davis Cup team-mate Andy Murray as his coach, withdrew due to a recurrence of his arm injury.
“Devastated to share that I have had to withdraw from my first round match due to a recurrence of my arm injury,” Draper said. “There have been a lot of painful moments in the last 12 months, but this one is definitely the absolute worst, as there is no greater honour for a British player than playing at Wimbledon. I will continue to persevere through this. Thank you for the support.”
“Jack Draper withdraws from Wimbledon 24 hours before first-round match due to arm injury recurrence.”
The former British No 1, who has climbed as high as No 4 in the world, had already missed the Australian Open and French Open this year because of arm and knee problems. He was due to face No 6 seed Taylor Fritz on Centre Court on Tuesday. Instead, he will spend the day rehabbing his arm.
World No 1 Jannik Sinner, who played Draper in last year’s US Open semi-final, expressed his sympathy. “I always say personally when he is at his best, he’s one of the best players in the world. He has shown this already so many times,” Sinner said. “When you struggle with injuries like this, it’s tough because he is one of my friends. You don’t wish anyone hard luck like he had throughout his whole career until now. I hope he will find a way. Maybe it’s just prevention-wise.”
Draper’s injury woes have been relentless. Last year he was shocked by Marin Cilic in the second round of Wimbledon and then played only one more match for the rest of the season because of bone bruising in his left arm. He returned on Davis Cup duty in February and even beat Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells in March, but a knee problem then ruled him out of most of the clay-court season, including Roland Garros. He withdrew from Queen’s early this month as a precaution, but recovered enough to play Eastbourne, where he won three matches before losing to France’s Ugo Humbert. He had started wearing a compression sleeve on his left arm during that run, but trained at Wimbledon without it on Sunday before pulling out 24 hours later.
The withdrawal leaves Britain without its two biggest names at Wimbledon, after Emma Raducanu withdrew on the eve of the tournament with a stress fracture in her shin. The British women’s No 1 had been managing a shin niggle throughout the grass-court season but a scan late on Sunday night revealed the fracture, and doctors told her she should not play through the pain.
The misery continued on opening day as Cameron Norrie and Harriet Dart both lost their first-round matches, compounding a nightmare start for the home contingent.