"A chance to play the world's best players again" - Draper pumped to make return to action in exhibition event

The long-awaited return to court for British number one Jack Draper is soon going to end. He will compete in the UTS Grand Final alongside a stacked lineup.

Draper was making exceptional progress throughout 2025. He made his debut in the top 20 after a terrific run at Flushing Meadows in 2024 where he reached the semi-finals before eventually losing out to the eventual champion Jannik Sinner. He continued this remarkable progress through 2025, developing as one of the top tennis players. This was proven on the world stage after getting the better of Carlos Alcaraz in the Indian Wells Open semi-final ahead of comfortably disposing of Holger Rune in the final for his maiden Masters 1000 crown. He followed this up by reaching the Madrid Open final, losing out to Casper Ruud.

He reached a career-high world number four ahead of Wimbledon, an incredible achievement for a rapidly improving player. However, it would not last. After a surprising second-round exit at Wimbledon, Draper stayed away from the court with a bruised humerus the issue. His attempted return at the US Open was cut swiftly short with the pain becoming unbearable. He has since decided to skip the rest of the campaign to focus on recovering ahead of the next one.

While it is not the first tournament on the 2026 calendar, Draper will work his way towards it with a return to the UTS Grand Final. Jack 'The Power' Draper won the title back in 2023, receiving his largest pay check of his career at that point of $546,800. 

UTS is an exhibition even created by legendary coach Patrick Mouratoglou and businessman Alex Popyrin, father of Aussie tennis player Alexei Popyrin. It boasts completely different rules and format from a standard tennis match usually watched on the ATP Circuit. Each match is split into four quarters lasting eight minutes. There is a 15-second time limit for serving with only first serves allowed. The point system goes up numerically rather than the standard 15-30-40. Once the time is up, the leader must win a point to confirm the quarter. The opposition player then has a chance to claw their way back into it by winning however many consecutive points behind they find themselves. The player who gets to three quarters first wins. If tied at 2-2, a 'sudden death' quarter is played. Whoever wins two consecutive points wins the match.

"I think I came back a bit too soon when I played the US Open so after that I decided to really shut it down and look after it. And now I'm building up my confidence and building up my tennis to be at full throttle again," Draper told UTS, as he looks forward to his return to action.

"It's a chance to compete, also a chance to play the world's best players again. I think when you have time out the game, it's really important to sort of get on their speed again. Having the opportunity to play before the coming season is important, I think, and really importantly for me, playing in front of my home crowd, playing at the UTS in London, playing at the Copper Box Arena, I haven't played there before, so I'm looking forward to that."

He will face David Goffin in his first match. The likes of Alex de Minaur, Ruud and Andrey Rublev will all be at the Copper Box in London from 5th - 7th December to battle it out for glory.