Jack Draper says the pressure he placed on himself while trying to reach the level of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner contributed to the arm injury that wrecked his 2025 season.
The British No 1 returned to action on Wednesday for the first time in five months, beating Viktor Durasovic 6-2 6-2 to help Great Britain to a Davis Cup win over Norway in Oslo. Draper, 24, reached a career-high world No 4 last June but was sidelined while his contemporaries continued to dominate the sport.
“That was my goal anyway and potentially that’s part of the reason why my body did break down,” Draper told the Press Association. “Maybe I was trying so hard to play in the right way, to hit the ball harder, to get free points in many ways and that just maybe was a stress for me.
“I’ve learnt a lot about myself mentally, physically. I’ve done a lot of things that I think have really put me in a good place. For sure those guys are leading the sport at the moment and I’m really hungry to get to where they are, so I’m going to do everything to do that.”
Draper was diagnosed with a “complex” bone bruising injury in his left arm after losing to Marin Cilic in the second round at Wimbledon. He said the lay-off taught him lessons both personally and for his career, and believes he is a better player now than he was during his hot spell last summer.
His planned return to the tour in Rotterdam next week has been pulled, with Draper saying he was disappointed but is “trending in the right direction.” The Rotterdam withdrawal follows a truncated run at September’s US Open, where he withdrew after the first round.
Victory over Durasovic was Draper’s only singles outing in the tie; coach Leon Smith said that had been the plan. “Unless maybe he came off and said ‘look, that was a really quick match’… the sensible thing with him, his medical team, was to say ‘let’s get this match banked, do some recovery and then go from there’,” Smith explained.
Earlier in the tie, Wimbledon champions Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash recovered from a mid-match wobble to secure an unassailable 3-0 lead for Britain with a 6-2 2-6 7-6 (5) doubles win over Durasovic and Budkov Kjaer. British No 3 Jacob Fearnley later won the dead rubber, beating Budkov Kjaer 3-6 6-3 10-7.
Great Britain’s 4-0 victory puts them through to the second qualifying round later in the year, where they will face either Australia or Ecuador for a place in November’s finals.