"I felt everything getting worse": Jack Draper shares fear about hip injury after retiring from Australian Open fourth round clash

Britain’s young tennis star Jack Draper has feared that he might have to deal with the hip injury for the majority of his remaining career. The 23-year-old is regarded as one of the most talented players currently playing in men’s tennis, but his journey in the ongoing Australian Open ended on Sunday as he was forced to retire from the fourth-round clash against Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz.

The final score of the match was 7-5, 6-1. It is not the first time that Draper has struggled with fitness concerns. He did that in 2024 and missed some events as well. Britain’s number one has been quoted in a report by the English media outlet Daily Mail where he expressed fear about dealing with a hip injury for the rest of his career. Draper also stated that he felt nothing went right since the start of the match on Sunday, which ended his journey in the first Grand Slam of the year.

“Today, from the first couple of games I felt everything getting worse,” he said. “Not ideal to end this way. Essentially I had tendinitis in my hip, which I had to get looked at with an MRI. I have had a history of problems in that area. It hasn't gone away. I'm still dealing with that. In the preseason, it came back and I couldn't walk. It was really difficult. I have come here and I have been managing that. I have been unbelievably surprised with how much I have been able to play and put my body through, more than I have ever done before. It's just massive overload. This area of my body, if I don't get that right and I don't make good decisions… I don't want to miss three or four months. That's just the sport,. Everyone's got their own areas where they struggle more than others, and that's my area that I'm going to have to look after and manage for probably the rest of my career. I'll just manage it the best I can, and hopefully get on a run where I'm not playing with pain and taking painkillers.”