Jack Draper out of Italian Open and French Open with right knee injury

Jack Draper has played nine matches since last year's U.S. Open. Javier Borrego / Europa Press Share articleJack Draper will miss the rest of the clay season with a right knee tendon injury, and will likely drop out of the men’s tennis top 100 as a result. Draper retired midway through his first-round match against Tomás Martín Etcheverry at the Barcelona Open earlier this month and announced on Instagram Wednesday that he would skip the Italian Open and French Open, feeling that he would not be ready for best-of-five clay-court tennis at Roland Garros. His plan is to return for grass season, which begins in earnest June 8, the day after the French Open finishes. “My knee is on the mend and I’ve started back hitting balls, but unfortunately I have been advised not to play Roland Garros,” Draper wrote in a statement posted to Instagram Stories. “As gutting as it is to miss another Slam, the advice is not to rush straight back into playing five-set tennis on clay. Off the back of the arm injury I sustained last year, I’ve been restricted with my training and by giving myself the time to heal and build, I can be the player I want to be out there once again. See you soon!” It’s another blow for Draper, who has been injured for the best part of a year. This time 12 months ago Draper reached the final of the Madrid Open, a 1000 event the rung below the Grand Slams, and achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 4 soon after. During that year’s clay season, he suffered the arm injury that would ultimately restrict him to playing just one match from his exit from Wimbledon until the end of the year. He was forced to withdraw from the U.S. Open in August after reaching the second round, revealing that he had suffered a bone bruise in his left arm, which is his playing arm. Draper returned to ATP Tour action at the Dubai Tennis Championships in February, and a few weeks later beat Novak Djokovic to reach the BNP Paribas Open quarterfinals. Draper was defending champion at the event, but he has only played twice since, losing both matches, the first against Daniil Medvedev and the second via retirement against Etcheverry in Barcelona. By the end of the clay-court season, Draper will have just 560 rankings points, which at present would leave him ranked No. 114. That would be a drop of 110 places from his ranking of No. 4 in June 2025, and a cruel reminder of the rough luck he has suffered with injury during that time. Draper may opt to return at the Stuttgart Open, a 250-level (the lowest rung on the ATP Tour) grass event, which begins Monday, June 8. He won his first ATP Tour title there, in 2024. Or he may wait until Queen’s, a 500-level event near his home in London, which takes place the week after. Draper’s hope is that he can use the time away almost as a mini pre-season ahead of the grass, which culminates with his home Slam at Wimbledon. Draper is yet to go beyond the second round at the All England Club. Britain’s most successful women’s player of recent years, Emma Raducanu, has also been short of fitness this year as she manages the after-effects of a viral infection she picked up in early February. Raducanu has not played since the BNP Paribas Open nearly eight weeks ago, though she has returned to training ahead of the Italian Open, which starts next week. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms