{"id":718205,"date":"2026-06-21T23:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T23:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/718205\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T23:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T23:54:14","slug":"jack-draper-discusses-injury-hell-ahead-of-wimbledon-its-like-youre-watching-your-decline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/718205\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Draper discusses injury hell ahead of Wimbledon: \u2018It\u2019s like you\u2019re watching your decline\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former world No. 4 Jack Draper<\/a> said he has been forced to watch his own decline, as a result of injuries which have allowed him to complete just eight competitive matches this year.<\/p>\n

Draper rose to his career-high ranking last year, after winning the BNP Paribas Open, his first ATP Masters 1000 title. But injuries to his left, playing arm and right knee have seen him miss the past two Grand Slams, and he will fall to No. 160 in the men\u2019s rankings when they update Monday.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters at the Eastbourne Open in England, the 24-year-old said he does not consider himself \u201can injured athlete,\u201d but rather \u201cunlucky\u201d with a string of physical problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was top-10 in the world, doing great things, and you\u2019re losing your ranking every week, you\u2019re just watching yourself,\u201d Draper said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like a football team where you can have a substitute come in and take your place. It\u2019s like you\u2019re kind of watching your decline. So, it\u2019s tough, but I think I\u2019ve learned a massive amount about my body in the last year and my recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Draper\u2019s last appearance came at the Barcelona Open, where knee tendinitis he had been playing through \u201cfor months\u201d became \u201cextremely inflamed.\u201d He retired from his match against Argentina\u2019s Tom\u00e1s Mart\u00edn Etcheverry while down 4-1 in the deciding set of their match.<\/p>\n

Draper has since added former world No. 1 and three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray to his coaching set-up<\/a>, and they have worked on biomechanical changes designed to make his aggressive, physical tennis more palatable to his body. The 24-year-old said by adapting to a platform serving stance (when players serve with two feet apart, instead of drawing them together in the pinpoint stance), he can put less strain on his left arm.<\/p>\n

Murray and Draper trained on public practice courts for the first time Saturday on the Eastbourne turf ahead of Monday\u2019s first-round match against Brandon Nakashima of the United States, who reached the semifinals of Queen\u2019s this week.<\/p>\n

The partnership with Murray \u2014 the most successful British male player in the modern era who had his own share of injuries \u2014 is a particularly good fit for Draper in terms of building up his confidence, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think his tennis knowledge is incredible, but more so as well \u2026 The place I\u2019m at right now, my tennis is actually in a really, really good spot,\u201d Draper said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just, (I) lost a lot of confidence in my body in a way, over the last year, that I\u2019m rebuilding back again, and having someone who believes in you as a person, as a player who\u2019s one of your biggest inspirations \u2026 Obviously, I have a great relationship with him off the court, but our relationship, I would say, is very special, and so that gives me a bit more energy, especially in a moment where I\u2019m coming back and I need to have that good energy around me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former world No. 4 Jack Draper said he has been forced to watch his own decline, as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-718205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}