Jack Draper's stop-start season has run into yet another wall. The lingering arm injury that has dogged him for well over a year has forced the 24-year-old left-hander to pull out of the ATP Tour event in Washington, the very tournament that was supposed to mark his return to competition after he ruled himself out of Wimbledon last month.
Draper has been battling bone bruising in his serving arm for more than 12 months. Ahead of the Mubadala DC Open, he had sounded optimistic over the weekend, saying he was "feeling physically good." He looked sharp in practice too, working under the guidance of his new coach, Andy Murray. But on Monday, after feeling fresh soreness in the same problem arm, he decided to withdraw from the ATP 500 event.
A worrying echo of Wimbledon
The situation is uncomfortably familiar. At the All England Club, Draper had also spoken positively about his fitness, only to withdraw just 24 hours before his first-round match. Now the same scene has played out again, another deeply frustrating setback for a player who describes the injury itself as "complicated." It is precisely this recurring pattern that is the most concerning part of the story.
The former world number four has managed only 15 matches over the past 12 months, largely because of the bruised humerus that he has tried to manage by resting for long stretches at a time. This season alone he has played just 13 matches, and he has now dropped out of the world's top 100. His ranking currently sits at 147th, and he has not featured in a major since the US Open last August.
Knowing when to push and when to hold back
Draper laid bare that dilemma during Wimbledon. "It's hard to tell when you can push and when not to push," he said. He went on to explain that he plays a very aggressive brand of tennis, one that sometimes demands playing through discomfort. Occasionally that discomfort becomes too much; at other times it does not. He was also clear that he would not be competing anywhere if he genuinely believed there was a chance the injury could get significantly worse.
His comeback earlier this season had already been derailed once, that time by tendinitis in his knee. The three-time ATP Tour winner went more than two months without playing before he returned at Eastbourne in June. Reaching the semi-finals there came at a cost, however, as the arm injury flared up again at Wimbledon and left Draper "devastated" at having to pull out of his home Grand Slam.
What comes next for Draper
Draper is still hopeful of playing in Montreal and Cincinnati before the US Open, which begins on 30 August. That is the same tournament where he reached the semi-finals in 2024. Even so, there is no getting away from the fact that this latest development is another cause for concern, and the repeated flare-ups of the injury paint a worrying picture.
If he does prove fit enough to play at Flushing Meadows this year, he will need to either come through qualifying or be handed a wildcard to earn a place in the main draw. In Washington, meanwhile, his spot in the draw has been taken by lucky loser Mackenzie McDonald.
