Jack Draper brings in Andy Murray’s ex-coach Jamie Delgado to lead comeback for 2026

Jack Draper has announced the hiring of Andy Murray's former coach, Jamie Delgado, making changes to his team while he is off the court. The British No. 1 has ended his season following his participation in the US Open, where he had to withdraw before playing his second-round match against Zizou Bergs.

The Indian Wells champion had been one of the most consistent players during the first half of the year, maintaining his place in the Top 5 of the ranking for months, with his best historical ranking as World No. 4. However, the second half of the year has again brought injuries for the Brit, causing him to fall in the rankings after months of absence.

Everything was going well for Draper until the start of the grass-court swing, where he arrived at Wimbledon with physical problems and ended up falling in the second round to Marin Čilić. He was the 4th seed and the great local hope, as his impeccable form made him look like a worthy contender to threaten the dominance of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.

Shortly after the defeat to Čilić, Draper took time off for rest and recovery after Wimbledon 2025. The Brit missed tournaments like the Cincinnati Open and Canadian Open, arriving barely ready for the US Open—where he also couldn't perform too well: he debuted with a win over Federico Agustín Gómez but was unable to present himself for the second-round match.

With this, Draper barely managed to play one match on hard courts since the end of the grass-court swing. Draper has now missed three Masters 1000 tournaments of the season and several others he had scheduled. Finally, after the brief stint at the US Open, the 23-year-old opted to end his season early and definitively take time off the court to officially return in 2026.

Recent reports from Sky Sports confirm the hiring of Jamie Delgado to join Draper's team. The British No. 1 is currently coached by Kevin Trootman, who is expected to remain closely involved, but Delgado will be the head coach and will travel with Draper to most tournaments.

Delgado is a former Great Britain Davis Cup player, who reached a best ranking of World No. 121 in singles and No. 57 in doubles. However, his greatest successes came while working as a coach. He worked alongside Andy Murray during the most successful period of his career, when Murray reached World No. 1 in 2016. Delgado worked in tandem with Ivan Lendl and remained on Murray's team until 2021. Since then, he also had periods working with Denis Shapovalov and Grigor Dimitrov—the latter until just a month ago, when they announced the end of their contractual relationship.

The arrangement will begin in the off-season, a period during which Draper is expected to have recovered from the left arm issue that has kept him off the courts. The Brit will not play any more official tournaments this season and has been ruled out of the ATP Finals—despite being 9th in the Race and potentially fighting for a qualification spot. However, Draper will not return to ATP tournaments. He will finally be unable to participate in the Finals for the first time in his career.

Nevertheless, the Brit's return to a match will happen this very year in the exhibition tournament Ultimate Final Showdown, which will take place in December in London.