Jack Draper has some strong views after having a disrupted season due to injury.
Draper ended his season early, playing just 15 matches in 2026 after continued struggles with bone bruising in his left arm, having played his last match at the Cincinnati Open in August.
This injury has prevented Draper from playing a single Grand Slam match in 2026, with the Briton now ranked outside the top 150.
As he attempts to come back to the ATP Tour in 2027, Draper has been practicing in Brazil and he has now revealed how he feels about the way he schedules his tournaments going forward.
Jack Draper says the current tennis schedule is ‘not in a good place’ after injury-stricken year
Draper spoke to Bagel Magazine about his current situation, where he was asked if he plans to schedule differently in the future given all of the physical issues he has been having since 2025, which was the best year of his career until getting injured.
The former world number four has admitted that he will need to look at if he wants to achieve longevity in tennis, with Draper admitting that the current schedule is ‘putting a whole generation in danger’.
“I’ll definitely look after my schedule as best as possible,” said Draper. “Longevity is something that I want to achieve. I want to be playing for a long time.
” There’s a lot of young tennis players now looking at the tour schedule and people say, ‘Oh, you don’t need to play every week’, but at the end of the day, young players want to be number one. And to do that, you have to play week in, week out.
“There’s been a lot of money-making decisions in tennis, especially from higher up. And although there’s been a lot of good stuff going on, they’re really putting a whole generation in danger, getting injured all the time. It’s more to do with the nature of the way the game’s going as well: slower courts, slower balls and then athletes getting better. So it’s not in a good place.”
Who is to blame for Jack Draper’s injury issues?
Jack Draper responds when asked if Carlos Alcaraz getting injured makes his injury easier
While Draper has arguably been one of the top players most impacted by injury, he is certainly not the only one who has been disrupted, with Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Holger Rune, Arthur Fils and Lorenzo Musetti also having physical issues.
Draper was asked if other players getting injured has made it easier to deal with his own injury, but he responded by stating that it does not provide him with any reassurance.
“Not really. I don’t wish injury on anyone,” Draper replied. “The injury I had in my playing arm was really not good, especially with the momentum that I was building. I was a top player in the world and then it gets taken away from you.
“Having an injury that just doesn’t really recover was brutal. It’s definitely taught me a lot about myself, my body and the people around me. When you’re doing great, everyone’s very nice. Then when you’re not doing so well, you’ll know the people who really truly care about you. I’m looking forward to coming back with a good perspective, full of energy to approach the second half of my career.”
Draper will not return to the ATP Tour until 2027, where he will have to rebuild after dropping down the rankings this season.
