Tennis Jun 30, 2026

Wimbledon: British star Jack Draper out of Grand Slam due to recurrence of arm injury

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By Admin
Sports Journalist
Wimbledon: British star Jack Draper out of Grand Slam due to recurrence of arm injury

British star Jack Draper has been ruled out of Wimbledon due to a recurrence of an arm injury.

It is a devastating blow for the 24-year-old, who finally appeared to have put his latest fitness struggles behind him after a hugely difficult year in which he has played only a handful of tournaments.

Draper followed .

There was further doom and gloom with a total of 10 Brits being sent packing on the opening day of the Championships.

Cameron Norrie and Harriet Dart were also among a number of Brits who crashed out in the first round.

Draper, the former world No 4, had been due to face sixth seed Taylor Fritz on Centre Court on Tuesday, said: "Devastated to share that I have had to withdraw from my first round match due to a recurrence of my arm injury.

"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!!"

Draper's troubles began after Wimbledon last year, when he took nearly seven months off with bone bruising in his arm, and he then missed almost the entire clay-court season due to a knee injury.

It's a bitter, bitter blow for former British No 1 Draper, who had just returned to competition after being afflicted by injuries for months.

Now physical issues mean neither of British tennis' biggest stars, Draper and Raducanu can take part in Wimbledon this year.

Only on Sunday Draper himself was raising concerns about the injury crisis in elite tennis.

He said: "Last year I would say I did well in the Masters 1000s. I was really trying to develop my game and push my game more and more every week to reach those guys like [Carlos] Alcaraz and [Jannik] Sinner, who obviously play at an incredibly high level.

"I just broke down."

He added: "I think it's pretty worrying the state of men's tennis, especially right now. The amount of injuries, especially through young players, [Lorenzo] Musetti, I know [Arthur] Fils has had a lot of trouble, Alcaraz's wrist. When I look at the draws for the weeks when I was out, everything is shoulder, arm, wrist. Whether that's the quality of the balls... I don't think there's more matches nowadays and stuff.

"I think definitely the way athletes are getting better and hitting the ball harder and moving better, I think it's my opinion they need to really take a close look at what we're doing on tour. Definitely the state of the Masters 1000s, the 12-day events.

"I was privy to those conversations when I was a top-10 player. Now I'm not.

"I think the tournaments are going to suffer a lot if not much changes. I think it's a really important topic. I hope that as time goes on things do change."

All 10 home players who completed their matches on Monday suffered an early exit at the Championships.

The tally of losses is the worst for the home nation since daily records began in 2000.

Fran Jones, who became the final faller when she lost 6-4 6-4 to France's Diane Parry, said: "It will create bad headlines, probably slightly unfairly. I think, with some of the draws that people are handed, it was always going to be difficult.

"But no one can hide from the heaviness of Wimbledon. It's important to everyone, and I'm sure it played a factor being at the home slam."

Norrie's defeat by American Michael Zheng was undoubtedly the most disappointing of the day, although the qualifier played a terrific match to win in a fifth-set tie-break.

Dart was close to pulling off a sizeable upset against former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, eventually losing out 6-3 3-6 6-4.

Qualifier Oliver Tarvet, who lost in the second round to Carlos Alcaraz last year, also played at a high level in a four-hour battle against 25th seed Arthur Rinderknech but was unable to force a deciding set.

Britain's teenage trio of Mimi Xu, Hannah Klugman and Mika Stojsavljevic were also among the losers after being handed very difficult draws.

Elsewhere, wild card Felix Gill was beaten by rising Spanish star Rafael Jodar while fellow debutants Alicia Dudeney and Max Basing also lost.

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