Jack Draper to miss Australian Open to prioritise recovery from injury

The British No 1 will continue to prioritise his recovery from bone bruising in his arm

Draper has played just once since Wimbledon and has now pulled out of the Australian Open (Getty Images)

Jack Draper will miss the Australian Open as the British No 1 continues his recovery from injury.

Draper had hoped to return to court ahead of the year’s first grand slam in 2026 having played just once since Wimbledon last summer due to bone bruising in his arm.

But as he nears the end of a long rehabilitation process, the 24-year-old and his team have taken the “tough” call to pull out of a trip to Melbourne and the warm-up events that precede it to instead target a return later in the ATP Tour season.

“Unfortunately, me and my team have decided not to head out to Australia this year,” Draper confirmed in a video posted to social media.

“It’s a really, really tough decision – obviously with Australia being a grand slam, it’s one of the biggest tournaments in our sport. However I’ve had this injury for a long time, I’m at the end stages of the process, and to step back on court in best-of-five set tennis so soon just doesn’t feel like the smart decision for me and my tennis.

“I’ve obviously been through a fair amount of setbacks so far, but by far and away this has been the most difficult, challenging and complex one that I’ve had. It’s weird, it always seems to make me more resilient, make me hungrier, make me want to become the player I want to become even more. I’m looking forward to getting back out there in 2026 and competing.

“I’d like to thank everyone for all the support in 2025. It means the world to me to be competing and playing out there on the tour with the other guys, and I’m looking forward to doing that again.”

Draper reached the fourth round of the Australian Open last year and soon climbed into the world’s top five after winning the biggest title of his career at Indian Wells.

He made a second round exit on home soil at Wimbledon, though, before withdrawing ahead of a second round match at the US Open, where he had reached the semi-finals in 2024, as injury struck.

The Briton had been slated to play at the Ultimate Tennis Showdown in London in December but also withdrew from that event.