Jack Draper retires injured in French Open debut as British tennis woes continue
Jack Draper was forced to retire injured on his debut at the French Open. The world No 55 was visibly struggling with his left shoulder and continued to throw in underarm serves before taking a medical time out after losing the first set 6-4. And the issue got too much as he retired trailing Tomas Etcheverry 0-1 in the second. Draper was one of just three British men in the singles main draw, with Dan Evans losing on Sunday and slamming the state of British tennis.
Draper’s French Open debut ended in disappointment as a new injury problem reared its head during his opening match against Etcheverry. The 21-year-old rallied back from a 1-4 deficit in the first set to level things at 4-4 and had a break point but lost it 6-4.
He continued to serve underarm during the set, showing a clear issue with his left shoulder. And the young Brit called the trainer to the court after dropping to the first set. Draper received a medical time out for treatment on the shoulder and tried to keep playing but retired halfway through the second game of the second set.
It means Britain has just one player remaining across both the men’s singles and women’s singles draws – Cameron Norrie, who is embroiled in his own first-round battle with Benoit Paire. Draper, Evans and Norrie were the only players in the main draw with Andy Murray and Kyle Edmund pulling out.
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Emma Raducanu’s withdrawal following the decision to undergo triple surgery meant no women got into the main draw on direct entry, while none of the Brits in qualifying were able to gain a spot in the tournament.
Draper’s injury will raise concerns ahead of the grass-court season, where he is defending points from a last-16 appearance in Queens and his maiden ATP semi-final in Eastbourne. The world No 55 has battled several physical woes this year, though the shoulder appears to be a new one.
The 21-year-old had a hip problem at the start of the season before an ab strain forced him to retire in Indian Wells. “In all honesty, I’m waiting for my breakthrough with that. I’ve not had many opportunities to play loads of Slams, to play the four sets, five sets and all that sort of thing,” Draper said when discussing his physicality ahead of his French Open debut.
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“I’m still waiting to find that confidence in my body. I’ve got a lot of confidence in my tennis but I feel like I need more time.” Draper also discussed his time away from the tour after taking a one-month break following the ab issue.
He added: “I haven’t played at all for so many weeks and stuff. I don’t know what’s gonna happen this week. I have no idea. But all I know is that I’ve done all the right things the last six weeks. I’ve trained really well, I’ve done the right thing to my body. I’ve looked after myself and trained really well. It’s good to get a few matches last week and I feel really good coming into this tournament.
“The main thing now is, whatever happens after this week, to make sure that I’m consistently playing through to Wimbledon, after Wimbledon to the end of the year, because that’s when coming to these tournaments starts to become very normal and very comfortable.” But the latest physical setback will now throw doubts over his plans to gain form ahead of Wimbledon.
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