Draper Targets Davis Cup Return Next Month
By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, January 5, 2026
Photo credit: Tony Chang/Chang Photography
Jack Draper is targeting team play for his tennis comeback.
Indian Wells champion Draper, who has been sidelined with a left arm injury, was named to Great Britain’s Davis Cup team that will face host Norway in Oslo next month.
British captain Leon Smith selected Draper, Cameron Norrie, Jacob Fearnley, Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash to the team for its 2026 Davis Cup First Round Qualifier.
Casper Ruud, Nicolai Budkov Kjaer, Viktor Durasovic, Andreja Petrovic and Lukas Hellum Lilleengen were named to the Norwegian team. Norway will host Great Britain February 5-6th on the hard court of the Nadderud Arena in Oslo.
Eleven days ago, Draper withdrew from the 2026 Australian Open saying his left arm injury was not fully healed.
Though Draper said he feels he’s nearing the end of the recovery process, he concedes this injury has been “complex” and “challenging” and believes it would not be wise to try to play best-of-five-set AO matches without feeling his arm is completely healed.
— jack draper (@jackdraper0) December 26, 2025
“Unfortunately, me and my team have decided not to head out to Australia this year,” Draper said in a video posted on X the day after Christmas. “It was a really, really tough decision.”
The left-handed Draper has been limited to one singles match since his Wimbledon loss to Marin Cilic last summer. Draper played the US Open mixed doubles event but was clearly compromised on serve and trying to hit overheads.
Draper conceded a walkover to Zizou Bergs before their scheduled US Open second-round clash in August and has not played since his US Open first-round win over Federico Gomez.
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