No. 5 seed Jack Draper was forced to withdraw from the U.S. Open on Wednesday due to a lingering arm injury.
“I’m sorry to say I’ll be withdrawing from the US open,” the British No. 1 posted on X Wednesday. “I tried my very best to be here and give myself every chance to play but the discomfort in my arm has become too much and I have to do what is right and look after myself. Thank you for all the support.”
Draper had been set for a second-round match against Belgium’s Zizou Bergs, who advanced to the third round by walkover.
Draper came out on top in a first-round matchup Monday with Federico Agustin Gomez. However, it was a struggle for the 23-year-old Englishman to get the 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (7), 6-2 victory over the Argentine qualifier.
Entering the U.S. Open, Draper hadn’t played a match since his second-round exit at Wimbledon in early July and recently revealed he was diagnosed with bone bruising in his left humerus, an injury that typically takes eight weeks of recovery time.
“I first started feeling it towards the middle of the clay season,” Draper told reporters Saturday. “It kind of got progressively a bit worse. … It is one of those where, if you keep playing with it, it could become very, very serious. So I had to take some time out.
“Tough injury to have, but definitely one where I had to look after it.”
Draper made it to the semifinals in last year’s U.S. Open, falling to eventual winner Jannik Sinner.
Bergs will next face the winner of Thursday’s match between No. 31 seed Gabriel Diallo of Canada and Jaume Munar of Spain.
–Field Level Media
