Jack Draper devastated after shoulder injury forces him to retire on his French Open senior debut
‘I hate being the guy who’s injured a lot’: British star Jack Draper is devastated after a shoulder injury forced him to serve forearm before he retired on his senior debut at the French Open
- Jack Draper saw his senior debut at the French Open derailed by an injury on Monday
- He started to feel pain in his shoulder while training on Sunday
- The 21-year-old mixed forearm with conventional serve in the first round
Jack Draper was devastated after his senior debut at Roland Garros was derailed by another injury.
The 21-year-old has a scar tissue problem in his hip and, more recently, a gnawing tummy problem.
He later revealed that he started feeling pain in his shoulder during practice on Sunday.
It wasn’t long before he mixed underarm with conventional serve and recovered the loss from an early break in the process before retiring at 4-6, 0-1 against Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
“I hate being the guy who gets injured a lot,” the 21-year-old southpaw admitted. ‘ It is difficult. Mentally it is extremely tough, harder than playing and almost losing. Because you just came back with injuries.
Jack Draper (above) saw his senior debut at the French Open derailed by another injury on Monday
He started to feel pain in his shoulder while training on Sunday
āI put a lot of work into it. I had a good week last week and I come here feeling optimistic, but it wasn’t meant to be. I feel a little mentally destroyed.
“I said to my coach, ‘I’m not quitting another game.’ I don’t want to do this. Even if I had to play underhand for three sets, I don’t care, I just wanted to play.
āBut there’s no point in making this worse. I don’t think it’s going to be anything serious. I just got a swollen tendon. I think I’m more than good for Wimbledon.’
He estimated that he had not been completely healthy since his participation in the US Open last summer.
āSometimes it just takes a while to get some momentum going and get going. It’s hard to trust my body right now. But I’m 21, I just need a little bit of confidence and a little bit of a breakthrough. I’m sure I will. My tennis is there, only my body is letting me down a bit at the moment. But it’s coming.’
Grass-court season starts next week and – if this isn’t an ongoing problem – he’ll be entering it after playing just four tournaments since January, with three mid-game retirements in the past nine months.