British tennis player Jack Draper has withdrawn from Wimbledon on Monday, June 29, 2026, just 24 hours before his scheduled first-round match against American sixth seed Taylor Fritz on Centre Court.
The 24-year-old left-hander suffered a relapse of a bone bruise that previously sidelined him for seven months, according to BBC.
The announcement follows another major setback for British tennis, coming one day after Emma Raducanu withdrew due to a leg stress fracture.
Draper expressed his disappointment through an official statement reported by Sky News.
"Devastated to share that I have had to withdraw from my first round match due to a recurrence of my arm injury," Draper said.
"There have been a lot of painful moments in the last 12 months but this one is definitely the absolute worst as there is no greater honour for a British player than playing at Wimbledon."
He added: "I will continue to persevere through this. Thank you for the support!!"
Physical Demands and Injury Concerns
Prior to his withdrawal, Draper spoke to ITV News about his physical struggles and the demands of competing at the top level.
"I was really trying to develop my game and push my game more and more every week to reach those guys like Alcaraz and (Jannik) Sinner, who obviously play at an incredibly high level.
I just broke down," he said.
Draper also raised concerns over the escalating number of injuries on the ATP Tour, noting the high frequency of upper-limb issues among younger athletes.
"I think it's pretty worrying the state of men's tennis, especially right now. The amount of injuries, especially young players.
When I look at the draws for the weeks when I was out, everything is shoulder, arm, wrist," Draper said.
He suggested that the tour schedule may need to be reviewed: "Definitely the state of the Masters 1000s, the 12-day events.
I was privy to those conversations when I was a top-10 player. Now I'm not.
I don't care as much about what I say. I think the tournaments are going to suffer a lot if not much changes."
Reflecting on his career, Draper discussed the psychological difficulty of handling successive physical setbacks after previously reaching a high global ranking.
"It's very difficult," he said. "When I was younger, I had quite a few setbacks.
Then I came through that and had a couple years of where I wasn't."
"Looking back, coming here last year as four in the world, I was feeling incredible and looking forward to everything that was to come.
Then you have something that stops you in your tracks when you're not expecting it. It's really difficult to accept that."
Despite the setback, Draper remains optimistic: "I still believe, even now after all this time, I'm still competing at an incredibly high level.
I'm looking forward to working my way up again."
Before the withdrawal altered the tournament draw, Taylor Fritz commented on facing the British player in the opening round.
"It's a good opportunity to have a really exciting first round that everyone's going to be paying attention to," Fritz said.
"He's going to come out super hungry and there's not really any pressure on him, so I think that makes it dangerous."
A replacement player from the lucky loser pool will take Draper's spot to compete against Fritz.
