Jack Draper's career has reached a crucial crossroads

It is the 9th June 2025. Jack Draper has climbed to a career high ranking of fourth in the world. He has been touted to challenge the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner after some incredible runs on the big stage. The future is bright. Over a year later, the Brit can now be found at No.155 in the ATP rankings and has only played in eight tournaments and will not play again until 2027.

The reason for this sharp decline has been due to one thing: injuries. If not for this, the future would unquestionably look very bright for Draper. He had earned his spot among the best in the world and was gazing up, not down, in a quest for stardom.

The reality now is that if he is competing on the court, that is a plus. And when he is, that match fitness, sharpness and consistency have been cruelly taken away from him, resulting in a string of defeats and lacklustre performances way off the level he once posed.

British tennis is in a sorry state. If it was not for Arthur Fery’s run to the Wimbledon semi-finals, there are very few positives. Cameron Norrie is the men’s biggest hope, alongside Fery, with injuries and poor form seeing Emma Raducanu, Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal plummet down the WTA rankings.

Nevertheless, the biggest hope British tennis had was Draper. A player who could have stepped up to the high ambitions placed upon him, following in the footsteps of a certain Andy Murray. While still only 24, there is plenty of time to change things around. However, this arm injury could prove the catalyst to a doomed tennis career.

Draper’s rise was not sudden, but there were signs. He became the youngest British quarter-finalist since Murray in 2006, back in 2021 at Queen’s, defeating Sinner as he debuted in the top 250. He even got a set off Novak Djokovic in his Wimbledon debut. The next year, more progress was made. A run to the Canadian Open quarter-final helped him climb into the top 50 at still a very young age.

He reached his first ATP final in 2023 at the Sofia Open, but a maiden triumph would have to wait until June 2024, when Matteo Berrettini was dealt with at the Stuttgart Open. A few months later, Draper topped that with Vienna Open success. However, the big highlight came at the US Open. The Brit battled past the competition to reach the semi-finals of the tournament. Eventual champion Sinner ended his dream run, but he was now in the top 20 in the world and a serious threat to the top talents in display.

2025 was the massive breakout year into the elite. His third and most recent title triumph came at Indian Wells. Defeating Holger Rune in the final while dropping just four games was impressive enough, but to see off Alcaraz for a second win against the Spaniard a round before drew countless praises. His versatility on surfaces was being showcased as he made it to the final of the Madrid Open. Casper Ruud, a clay specialist, got the better of him in three sets, but the signs were looking good.

Draper's second round loss to Marin Cilic at Wimbledon of that year was a huge disappointment for the hopeful British fans. This would pale in comparison to what Draper would have to deal with later. He suffered with some arm pain in his left arm, turning out to be a bruised humerus. He missed the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open as he made a comeback at the US Open.

After his first round win over Federico Agustin Gomez in four sets, he would withdraw from the competition as the pain became too much to deal with. That was the last Grand Slam he had competed in.

Draper suspected that the initial scans were misinterpreted, giving him false hope of a comeback to Flushing Meadows. He finished the year 10th in the world. That was despite losing most of his points from the US Open and cancelling his 2025 season early.

Draper and his team were thinking that rest was the answer, and he would patiently bide his time before his latest return. What he did not know was that this would be the start of a painful process with false horizons and painful setbacks becoming the norm in a very turbulent period for him.

The Australian swing was cancelled as the seriousness of Draper's problem only grew. He has had injury problems in the past, since bulking up a lot more to become more robust. However, this was an issue that could not be solved via that route.

He played his first match in around six months for his nation in the Davis Cup qualifiers against Norway. He managed just one match, a comfortable straight-set win against weakened opposition, before delaying his ATP return. That was a good test to see where his body was. He would finally return to the ATP Tour in Dubai in contrasting matches against a French duo. Quentin Halys was seen off, but a brilliant showing by Arthur Rinderknech sent Draper tumbling out.

He was lacking match sharpness heading to his all-important title defence in California. He managed to limit the damage with a quarter-final run, defeating his idol Djokovic superby in the last-16 before Daniil Medvedev saw him off in a contentious meeting. That was a sign of his quality on the court, undeniable to many, but there were things holding him back.

An early exit in Miami allowed Draper to focus on clay with a lot of points to defend. He had dropped outside the top 20 in this time. The Barcelona Open could have provided him with a great foundation to kick off from going to Madrid, but instead it was a knee problem that ended his tournament in the first round. The rest of the clay swing was cancelled, and Draper was not outside the top 70.

His partnership with Murray seemed to be a positive one away from the court, and on it at the Eastbourne Open Draper was again winning. The performances were slowly improving, but Ugo Humbert proved too strong in the semi-finals. He was relishing a chance to return to Wimbledon, but yet another cruel twist would occur. Draper would not play Taylor Fritz in what would have been one of the most intriguing opening round ties of the tournament at SW19 thanks to that arm problem again.

He entered the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open via wildcards, but this only showcased the detrimental cycle he was in. He was in tears en route to an opening round defeat in Montreal before Martin Landaluce got the better of him in Ohio. Draper pulled out of the US Open and subsequently has since ended his 2026 campaign, following in the footsteps of last year with 2027 set to be another fresh start.

Over a year now Draper has been dealing with this pesky arm injury to no avail. He has tried numerous things to keep it under control, but seemingly every comeback is ended with another setback. While there have been positives like the runs at Indian Wells and Eastbourne, the negatives far outweigh them, and that moment of him crying at the Canadian Open sums up what he had been going through.

Draper confirmed the news of his 2027 return on Instagram. "Don’t usually love lots of words on here but I wanted to update you that I am aiming to return to the tour at the start of 2027," he wrote. "Last summer all the dedication and work I had put into this sport was coming together. It was all going my way and the path seemed so clear.

"However a complicated injury made things incredibly challenging and since that moment I’ve been desperately trying to get back and feel as I once did on the court. Managing so much change, adversity and pain has helped me to grow massively in many areas of my life but has also made me feel a level of fatigue that made it difficult to keep going. I am taking this time to reset and heal so when I return I am 100% ready to go. Tennis is my purpose and passion and so when I step back on court I want to make sure that there’s nothing holding me back from where I want to go and achieve the things I know I’m capable of. I really appreciate all the continued support from my sponsors, team and people who enjoy following my tennis and I look forward to being back on court to give it my all next year!"

Still only 24, the future should remain bright for Draper. If he can get on top of this arm injury, then the sky is the limit, and he had already proven that. All he needs is a run of tournaments, and the ranking points will start flying in along with the confidence and consistency.

Easier said than done. Tennis is a brutal and ruthless sport which does not wait for anybody. Ranked 155th in the world, Draper will not have to worry about defending any ranking points until the end of February next year, and even then there are not many. That gives him a great chance to make some ground up. Whether he can and how far he can go are all mysteries. While he could break back into the top four and challenge for major titles, he could continue this pattern of setbacks and hiatuses. From being Britain's best hope on the court, the future remains uncertain for Draper, with tennis possibly losing what would have been one of the best players in the world over the next few years.