As the rest of the top 100 tennis players moved on from the clay courts of the French Open to the lawns of Wimbledon and beyond, Jack Draper was nowhere to be seen. During his first-round match against Tomás Etcheverry in Paris at the end of May, he had picked up a problem with his left shoulder that forced him to retire from the match, yet another injury in a season defined by them.
The minor setback that he anticipated would be resolved by the time he stepped on to the grass turned out to be a major injury. Instead of competing at Wimbledon, Draper spent each day arriving at the National Tennis Centre early, doing two fitness sessions a day while having to remain incredibly patient through rehab as he saw minimal progress because of the seriousness of his injury.
