LONDON — Jack Draper, who has played just one tennis match since Wimbledon because of injury, will not be fit for next month´s Australian Open.
The 10th-ranked Draper’s 2025 season was prematurely curtailed by bone bruising in his left arm.
“Unfortunately, me and my team have decided not to head out to Australia this year,” the 24-year-old British player said in a video on X.
The Australian Open in Melbourne starts on January 18.
“It´s a really, really tough decision. Obviously, Australia being a Grand Slam, it´s one of the biggest tournaments in our sport,” Draper added according to AP.
“However, I´ve had this injury for a long time. I´m at the very, very end stages of the process and to step back on court into best-of-five-set tennis so soon just doesn´t seem like a smart decision right now.”
Draper withdrew from his second-round match at the US Open in August before calling time on his season soon after. He was beaten by Marin Cilic in the second round of Wimbledon in July.
Draper’s arm injury plagued him for much of his campaign, coming to a head at the US Open in August, when he withdrew from his second-round match before calling time on his season shortly afterwards.
The 24-year-old had been pencilled in to return at the Ultimate Tennis Showdown Grand Final in London earlier this month but he followed advice to take more time in his recovery.
In skipping the season’s first grand slam, Draper is now likely to target a comeback in February before the defence of his Indian Wells title at the beginning of March.
The British number one added: “I’ve obviously been through a fair amount of setbacks so far but by far and away this one has been the most difficult, the most challenging, the most complex one that I’ve had.
“It’s weird, it always seems to manage to make me more resilient, to make me hungrier, to make me want to become the player I want to become even more. I’m looking forward to getting back out there in 2026 and competing.”
