Jack Draper Withdraws from Madrid Open and Italian Open Due to Knee Tendon Injury

Jack Draper has withdrawn from this week's Madrid Open and he will also miss next month's Italian Open because of a knee tendon injury. The 24-year-old did not play in the Monte Carlo Masters either, and retired from his only clay court match of the season in Barcelona as a result of the problem. That tournament was just the fourth of his comeback from bone bruising, which - bar one match at the US Open - had kept him off the tour since Wimbledon. "An aggravated tendon in my knee means I am not able to play in Madrid and Rome," Draper said. "It's frustrating for sure, but I am thankful it isn't anything more serious. Recovery is going well and I feel good about my chances of being fit for Roland Garros. I am looking forward to building momentum from there." The French Open begins in Paris on 24 May, but Draper is considering playing an ATP event in either Hamburg or Geneva the week before. The 2024 US Open semi-finalist retired from his first round match in Barcelona when trailing Tomas Martin Etcheverry 4-1 in the deciding set. Struggling with his movement, the physio had applied tape to an area below his right knee before the final set began. He also wore tape on the knee at times in Indian Wells in early March, where he beat Novak Djokovic en route to the quarter-finals. Draper had a lot of ranking points to defend in Madrid and Rome. He reached his first clay court final in Madrid last year - losing to Casper Ruud - and followed that with a run to the quarter-finals in Rome. A total of 850 points will fall from his ranking, and that is likely to see him drop outside the world's top 70. Draper reached a career high of four in June last year, but will now be unseeded for the French Open and most likely for Wimbledon, too. The former British number one has had a lot of injuries in his short career. He missed six months of the 2023 season because of a shoulder injury and had hip problems leading into last year. He recovered superbly to win his first Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells, as well as finishing runner-up in Madrid, before bone bruising in his left serving arm allowed him just one singles match post Wimbledon. His comeback match was on Davis Cup duty for Great Britain in Norway in February. After beating Viktor Durasovic, Draper reflected on how he has managed to cope with so much time away from the sport. "I've kind of taken a step back from tennis in this period," Draper told BBC Sport. "Tennis is a bubble, and sometimes you can get distracted that it's all that matters in life. When [I] have time out, I use it wisely to make sure that when I try and come back to tennis, that I'm ready to go all the way again." With Emma Raducanu also missing Madrid to continue her recovery from illness, and Sonay Kartal absent with a back injury, Katie Boulter and Cameron Norrie are the only two British players in the main draw in the Spanish capital.