Draper Is Ready to Ramp it Up After Long Hiatus

Jack Draper made his return to the ATP Tour, winning his first tournament match since last year’s US Open on Monday in Dubai. The 24-year-old Brit, sporting a military-style crewcut, shrewdly moved past Frenchman Quentin Halys, 7-6(8) 6-3. 

The victory was Draper’s second of the season after he defeated Norway’s Viktor Durasovic in Davis Cup Qualifiers earlier this month. 

“I’m really happy to be back,” said the World No.15, who reached a career-high ranking of No.4 in the world last June. “I feel like [I am at] the stage of my recovery now where I am going to be competing hopefully week-in, week-out. I know that it’s not going to be an easy process to get back [to top form]. I have to remind myself sometimes of that, even if I want things quickly. I have been off the tour for a long time, and all of a sudden I’m seeing the guys at the events again, and they’re great players.” 

Draper suffered bone bruising in his humerus bone last year, which runs from the elbow to the shoulder, and eventually found that he couldn’t play with the pain. Concerns that he may end up with a more serious stress fracture eventually forced his hand. 

“It’s actually a really, really bad injury to get,” Draper said of the arm injury that he first felt last spring at Madrid and shut down his 2025 season after the US Open. “When I first started experiencing some of the symptoms I had in Madrid last year, I just thought I’d carry on and stuff. But the aftermath of it has been pretty difficult. There’s been a lot of ups and downs, a lot of pain and a lot of spending time off court, not being able to do what I love.”

Draper takes the positives from a trying time, saying that he has learned about his body, and how to manage the balance between caring for his health and competing care-free. 

“I’ve tried to keep on improving, keep on learning,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot about my body, about recovery, about probably things that I didn’t [understand in] enough detail before, and I’ve got to keep on moving forward. 

“I think mentally, when you go through a lot of adversity, it changes you, makes you more resilient,” he said. “I know I’ve got a long career ahead of me. I know that, hopefully, those big things I want to achieve, they’re still very possible. It was just about not coming back too soon or not making anything worse for the long run.”