According to Sky Sports on Wednesday, British tennis star Jack Draper of London, England will miss the 2026 Australian Open because of an arm injury. Draper originally announced his intention of participating in the first grand slam of the calendar year, but changed his mind shortly afterwards.
Draper had a great first half of the season and had an injury-filled second half. The first half of the year saw Draper win the 2025 Indian Wells tennis tournament. In the final, Draper defeated Holger Rune of Denmark, 6-2, 6-2. Ironically, Rune will miss the Australian Open as well, as he tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the semifinals of the Stockholm Open.
It was at the United States Open, when we first became aware of Draper’s arm injury. That is because he withdrew from his second round match against Zizou Bergs of Belgium. Then in mid-September, Draper announced he would not participate in any tennis tournament the rest of the 2025 calendar year. Now it appears that Draper’s ailment is continuing into 2026.
Draper is currently ranked 10th in the world. He was ranked as high as fourth in the world this past season.
Draper’s best grand slam result was reaching the semifinals of the United States Open in 2024. Draper has won two other ATP titles. He was victorious at the 2024 Stuttgart Open and the 2024 Vienna Open.
With Draper out, the top ranked British tennis player at the Australian Open will be Cam Norrie. Currently ranked 27th in the world, Norrie has also been to a grand slam semifinal. He was in the final four of Wimbledon in 2022.
