Draper to miss Wimbledon with shoulder injury

Jack Draper getting treatment on his shoulder
Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 28 May-11 June
Coverage: Live text and radio commentaries of selected matches across BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, the BBC Sport website and app

Britain’s Jack Draper will miss the grass-court season, including Wimbledon, with a shoulder injury.

“It’s clear my shoulder is going to need time and rehab to get back to where it needs to be,” Draper wrote on Instagram.external-link

“My team and I have made the difficult decision to miss the grass-court season this year.”

He added: “I guess in this sport there are so many ups and downs but this one is tough to take.

“The only thing for sure is that I will keep persevering. Thank you for all the support, it means a lot.”

Draper was losing 6-4 1-0 to Etcheverry when he had to withdraw after having to serve underarm at times in the opening set.

“It’s difficult. It’s extremely tough, tougher than playing and losing. I feel a bit mentally destroyed,” he said afterwards.

“It’s really frustrating. But I will get there. It’s just a brutal sport. I hate being the guy who is injured a lot.”

Ranked 55th in the world, Draper has suffered a number of physical problems in his young career. This was the third successive Grand Slam match where his performance had been affected by injury.

After retiring from his US Open third-round match against Karen Khachanov last September with a hamstring problem, the British men’s number four was compromised by cramping in his Australian Open defeat by Rafael Nadal in January.

He also retired from his meeting with Spain’s world number one Carlos Alcaraz in Indian Wells in March.

Draper reached the second round of Wimbledon in 2022, and then beat sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime on his way to round three of the US Open.