Jack Draper is coming back. The 24-year-old Brit has accepted a wild card for the Mubadala DC Open, starting July 27 in Washington. Barely a month after his painful Wimbledon withdrawal, the left-hander is preparing his return on hard courts, the surface that suits him best.
A recurrence of bone bruising in his left arm had forced him to pull out of the All England Club before stepping on the grass. A tough blow for a player who has competed in only a handful of tournaments over the past year, battling arm relapses, knee issues and shoulder pain. His withdrawal coincided with a disastrous opening day for British tennis: all ten home players in action lost their matches.
But the dynamic has shifted. Since Eastbourne in June, Andy Murray has been working alongside him as coach. The former world number one and three-time Grand Slam champion brings invaluable experience in injury management, a field he knows intimately after nearly retiring in 2019 before a remarkable comeback with a metal hip.
The DC Open kicks off the North American hard court swing, the final stretch before the US Open in late August. The field is strong: Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, Daniil Medvedev, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alex De Minaur are all entered. Stefanos Tsitsipas has also received a wild card.
For Draper, Washington represents far more than a simple comeback. The goal is to find rhythm before the Masters events in Montreal and Cincinnati, then the US Open where he reached the semi-finals in 2024. If his arm holds up, the big-serving left-hander could quickly become a threat again. His representatives confirmed his absence would be limited to one month, a sign that recovery is progressing well.
