Jack Draper’s last set of 2026 was one he had in his hands. On P&G Stadium Court in Cincinnati on 13 August, he led Martin Landaluce 5-2 in the second with a double break, and across the next three games he held six set points. He took none of them. Landaluce won the next five games and the match, 6-3, 7-5.
Draper has not played since, and he will not play again this year. The 24-year-old said on Instagram on Tuesday that he is aiming to return to the tour at the start of 2027, closing a season in which he did not play a single major.
“Last summer all the dedication and work I had put into this sport was coming together,” he wrote. “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.” He said the pain and upheaval had left him with “a level of fatigue that made it difficult to keep going.”
The last match. Draper was broken in the opening game in Cincinnati and never recovered the first set. The second looked like his until it was not. The ATP Tour’s report said he appeared to hit a physical wall in the Ohio heat as the second set turned, and a match report carried by Yahoo Sports put his count at 47 unforced errors and 12 double faults. Landaluce, who came in on a six-match tour-level losing streak, converted five of the 12 break points he earned, according to Infosys ATP Stats.
“At the end of the match I made some big shots and I really like playing like that,” Landaluce said afterwards. It was Draper’s second first-round loss in a week. In Montreal, on his return from the arm problem, he lost to Terence Atmane and broke down in tears on court. He then withdrew from the US Open.
Twelve months of the same injury. The trouble is a bone bruise in his left arm, the serving arm of the left-hander. He first felt it during the 2025 clay-court season, shut his 2025 season down after pulling out of that year’s US Open before the second round, and did not return until February, which cost him the Australian Open. A knee problem in the spring then kept him out of Roland Garros. He came back at Eastbourne, but the arm pain returned and he withdrew from Wimbledon.
Where it leaves him. Draper reached a career-high No. 4 in June 2025, a few months after winning his first Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells. He is now No. 155. UPI reported his 2026 singles record as 8-7, with losses in his last three appearances. His full profile covers the three tour titles and his 2024 US Open semifinal run.
He framed the decision as a reset rather than a retreat. “I am taking this time to reset and heal so when I return I am 100% ready to go,” he wrote. “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.”
The start of 2027 means the Australian swing in January. The rest of this season, from the Asian swing to the race for Turin, goes on without him.
