“His tennis is bloody good. He’s really good" - Andy Murray gives positive updates surrounding Jack Draper's injury woes

Andy Murray has recently been guiding Jack Draper away from the court as the Brit looks to get back onto court. Vastly impressed with what he has seen, Murray dismissed any injury concerns, hoping that Draper is past the worst of it.

After rising up the rankings following reaching a US Open final and winning the Indian Wells title, Draper was on top of the world. He was tipped to challenge the best players in the world and was a shining light on British tennis.

A year on, and it has not gone to plan. An arm injury picked up at Wimbledon saw him miss the rest of the 2026 campaign after just one match at the US Open. His comeback was delayed again and again before eventually returning to the court.

He made an impression at Indian Wells, defeating Novak Djokovic in the last-16 before his title defence came to an end against a very impressive Daniil Medvedev. Since then, match fitness and sharpness has proved to be lacking. His clay swing was finished following a knee injury picked up at the Barcelona Open. A Madrid Open final defence never occurred and from debuting in the top five, Draper is now outside the top 100. Most importantly, there is very little to defend for the rest of the campaign, giving him a great chance to mount a comeback up the rankings. After pulling out of Queen's, he will begin his return on grass in front of a home crowd at the Eastbourne Open.

Murray updated Draper's progress on court when speaking to The Sun. “Jack is supposed to be playing in Eastbourne next week," he began. “He’s been training and getting ready for that. He’s been on the court most days for the last few weeks."

He was very impressed with what he has seen from the former world number four, feeling confident that the worst of the injury issues are now behind him. “His tennis is bloody good. He’s really good. Obviously he’s had lots of issues the last year with various injuries. And I feel like he’s starting to come out the other side of that now. The next step is obviously getting on the match court and getting a consistent run of tournaments and weeks under him and building trust again in his body."

The Scot could not stop talking about the tennis that he has witnessed from Draper, praising him lavishly as he looks forward to seeing it up close in action on the Sussex coast. “But from a tennis perspective, from what I’ve seen on the practice court, I’ve got no concerns there," he commented. “He’s a lot better than what I thought. And I thought he was bloody good before I started helping him. He’s a quick learner. He’s got very few holes in his game. He’s a more complete player than probably what I expected as well.”

This coaching partnership between the pair will be very helpful when in the UK. Murray, who is a father of four, has priorities over tennis with family the thing he most cherishes. Travelling around the world with Draper was not on his list.

“I was quite clear with him that I’m not going to be on the road travelling," he said. "I still want to be able to pick my kids up from school, drop them off at home. If that wasn’t something that worked for him, then that was also absolutely fine. But I said I’d still love to help you if you would like that. He’s asked for me to help him over this next period. I’ve enjoyed being on court with him. We’ll see how the next few weeks pan out.”

This is most definitely not Murray's first coaching gig. He had the pleasure of being apart of the illustrious team guiding Novak Djokovic in 2025. He began by overviewing his progress Down Under when he made a run to the semi-finals of the Australian Open, defeating Carlos Alcaraz before injury blighted his progress in the semi-final against Alexander Zverev.

It was a whole new process for Murray as he moved away from the court. “I didn’t find it weird when I was watching matches with Novak," he reminisced. “The build-up to the matches and stuff I found quite hard. Because you need to get your communication with the player right. And to make sure that everything is under control."

“Making sure you’ve got the right courts booked, practice partners, balls, racquets, strategy. All of those sorts of things. You want that to go smoothly. And then once the player is out on the court, I found it quite easy."

Once his job away from the match was done, he would enjoy watching world class tennis played regularly by the 24-time Grand Slam champion. “I found the pre-match stuff harder than sitting in the box watching and observing a tennis match and trying to be objective about it. I didn’t feel like I got too emotionally invested in the matches where I couldn’t think. I didn’t find it that weird watching. To be honest, I quite liked that part of it.”

The partnership only lasted around six months. From bitter rivals on the court, Murray would aid his former opponent with the two having great respect for each other. He would have learned a lot in that period and will now try to implement that on Draper.