UTS chief 'sure' Draper will play in December event
Jack Draper's preparations for 2026 have started a lot earlier than he would have wished.
An arm injury has allowed him just one singles match since Wimbledon – and forced him to end his season early after the discomfort proved too much at the US Open in August.
But the 23-year-old world number eight is back in training, and the organisers of a three-day event in London in December are confident he will be fit to play.
Draper is planning to make his comeback at the UTS Grand Final in London, having been offered a wildcard by Patrick Mouratoglou, who is the founder of the quickfire event.
"He was very confident – otherwise he wouldn't accept to be invited," Mouratoglou, who coached Serena Williams for a decade, told BBC Sport.
"I'm sure he's going to play. The only thing you can do is [allow] time for healing. He's going to take a long time before competing again.
"You can't play on a bone bruise, because the next stage is a stress fracture and you can't take the risk to have a stress fracture.
"When you have a bone bruise on the arm, you can do a lot of fitness, so you stay in shape. It's annoying because you need to stop completely and wait until it's completely clean again."
Draper was modelling next summer's collection for one of his sponsors last week and has been working out regularly at the National Tennis Centre in London this week.
The work is primarily physical at the moment, and when pre-season training begins in earnest later this month, the initial on-court drills are likely to be low in intensity.
The British number one first felt discomfort in his upper left serving arm during the clay court season in the spring, and following a scan after Wimbledon, did not hit any serves for a month.
But the period of rest proved insufficient. He won his first-round match at the US Open, but withdrew before the second, and the opportunity to make his debut at the season ending ATP Finals was gone.
”He's top 10 and he played half of the year. Just to say how good he is…” Mouratoglou added.
"His only problem for the moment is the injuries: he has been through several injuries already in the past.
"I always thought he was going to be a top player, but for every player that is supposed to become a top player, there are things to solve.
"For him, it's to find a way to be injury free as much as possible because that's what made him lose a little bit of time otherwise he would be higher [in the rankings], I think."
The UTS London Grand Final will be staged at the Copper Box from 5-7 December.
Draper won the event in 2023 and pocketed what was then the biggest pay cheque of his career.
Three-time Grand Slam finalist Casper Ruud will also be in the eight-man field for matches played over four eight-minute quarters.
Only 15 seconds are allowed between points, there is no second serve, and bonus cards can be played to multiply the value of the next point by three.
