Jack Draper Pumped to Return to Action in the Exhibition Tournament After Months on the Sidelines

Jack Draper will compete at the UTS Grand Final in London, which starts on December 5.

Jack Draper Pumped to Return to Action in the Exhibition Tournament After Months on the Sidelines

Jack Draper (Image via X/Barstool Tennis)

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The long-awaited return to the court for Jack Draper is soon going to end as he’s set to take part in the UTS Grand Final in London. The tournament is set to kick off next month, which will be the British World No. 1’s first match since the US Open in August, where he played just one match before withdrawing due to injury.

Draper was making exceptional progress on the court during the 2025 season. He made his debut in the top 20 after a terrific run at Flushing Meadows in 2024, where he reached the semi-finals before losing to Jannik Sinner. He continued his development in 2025, reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open.

He reached his first final of the season at the Qatar Open, where he fell to Andrey Rublev in three sets. After that, he won the biggest title of his career at Indian Wells, claiming the ATP Masters 1000 crown after beating Holger Rune. He then went on to reach his first clay-court final at the Madrid Open.

There, he suffered his second championship match defeat against Casper Ruud in three sets. By then, Draper had gained his way into the top 5 of the ATP rankings and got to the top four ahead of the Wimbledon Championships. But he suffered an arm injury at the US Open, which forced him out of the tour.

He has been sidelined for up to three months, but is looking set to return to the court at the UTS Grand Final in London. During an interview with UTS, he revealed that he’s looking forward to being on the court again as he hopes to use the tournament to build on his confidence ahead of the 2026 season:

I think I came back a bit too soon when I played the US Open so after that I decided to really shut it down and look after it. And now I’m building up my confidence and building up my tennis to be at full throttle again. It’s a chance to compete, also a chance to play the world’s best players again. I think when you have time out the game, it’s really important to sort of get on their speed again.

While the UTS is not the first tournament for the coming 2026 season, Draper will hope to get the necessary fitness level ahead of next year. This is not the first time he is playing at the tournament as he won it back in 2023, receiving the biggest paycheck of his career at that time – $546,800.

Former British player praises Jack Draper for his improvements in his game this season

Previously, Jack Draper struggled on the clay-court on tour. He had played at the French Open on several occasions without getting past the first round. It was this year’s edition of the tournament that he finally went beyond that and even reach the fourth round before losing to Alexander Bublik.

Jack Draper Vuori US Open 2025
Jack Draper (image via Matt Fitzgerald)

He also reached his maiden clay-court final at the Madrid Open in April. During a conversation on Sky Sports, Laura Robson praised Draper for his improvement on the court this season, particularly on the red dirt. The former WTA player said that he became more aggressive on the court this season than in other seasons:

It’s not something that we’ve seen from him over the years and to do it on multiple surfaces, making the final of Madrid, playing the same sort of brand of tennis as we saw in Indian Wells and to see him find that belief, that inner confidence that you need to challenge the best in the world – he’s been building to it.

Draper also reached the quarter-finals of the Italian Open for the first time in his career, but he fell to Carlos Alcaraz. During the grass-court, he was points from getting to the final of the Queen’s Club Championships before letting errors into his game that made Jiri Lehecka eventually defeat him.

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