Because of an arm ailment, Jack Draper has postponed his return to action by withdrawing from this weekend’s Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) grand finale in London.
Since Wimbledon, the British number one has only participated in one singles match, and he had hoped to utilize this event to get ready for a January return to the tour.
However, the 23-year-old stated in a social media message that he has been advised to take more time off rather than compete in the competition, which will be held at the Copper Box Arena from December 5 to 7.
Draper stated, “I’ve been putting in a lot of effort to get ready for the UTS, but regrettably, I’m just not quite there yet.”
“Because I want nothing more than to compete, it’s a difficult decision, but I’ve been told to give it more time. I apologize to the fans for letting them down and missing the event.”
Draper initially experienced pain in his upper left serving arm during the clay court season in the spring, and after a scan following Wimbledon, he did not execute any serves for a month.
He made an attempt to return at the US Open in late August, but after competing alongside Jessica Pegula in mixed doubles and winning his opening-round match in singles, he withdrew due to the discomfort.
This week’s three-day event in London would have given Draper at least three quick matches, lasting four eight-minute quarters, and competition from fellow top-20 players Alex de Minaur, Casper Ruud, and Andrey Rublev.
Patrick Mouratoglou, the founder of the UTS event, gave Draper a wildcard entry.
While Mouratoglou was certain that Draper would be ready to play, he did emphasize the risk of returning too soon from this sort of injury when speaking to BBC Sport in October.
“You cannot play on a bone bruise because the next stage is a stress fracture, and you cannot take the chance of developing a stress fracture,” Mouratoglou stated.
“You can perform a lot of fitness when you have a bone bruise on your arm to stay in shape. Because you must stop completely and wait until it is completely clean again, it is annoying.”
Draper shared a video of himself practicing forehands at the National Tennis Centre in London in early November, wearing a compression sleeve on his left arm.
His next scheduled appearance is for Great Britain in the United Cup team competition in Perth during the first week of January.
The Australian Open, the new season’s first Grand Slam, begins in Melbourne on January 18.
Draper achieved a career-high world ranking of four in June and remains at 10 after a strong first half of the year that saw him win his first Masters 1,000 title at Indian Wells.
