Jack Draper and Andy Murray partnership handed immediate blow | Tennis | Sport

Jack Draper has announced that he is pulling out of Queen’s, the first tournament he was scheduled to compete in with Andy Murray in his corner. Draper has been plagued with injury problems this season and is instead aiming to play at Eastbourne the following week.

Draper was forced to miss the French Open and has played just one match in nearly three months, during which he retired against Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the first round of the Barcelona Open. Draper has fallen from world No. 4 to No. 112 and is aiming to get back to his best before Wimbledon.

“Recovery going in the right direction, but I’m going to give myself one more week and aim to return at Eastbourne,” Draper announced. “Very hard to miss one of my favourite events of the year.”

Draper was absent for six months because of a bruised bone in his left serving arm, before returning to competitive play in February, though he has been unable to sustain a steady run of matches.

His French Open absence was due to an ongoing knee injury.

“My knee is on the mend and I’ve started back hitting balls but unfortunately I have been advised not to play Roland Garros,” Draper posted on Instagram at the time.

“As gutting as it is to miss another Slam, the advice is not to rush straight back into playing five-set tennis on clay.”

He added: “Off the back of the arm injury, I’ve been restricted with my training and by giving myself the time to heal and build, I can be the player I want to be out there once again.”

Murray, a two-time Wimbledon champion, was brought into Draper’s team in May for the grass-court season. It marks his first job in tennis since splitting with Novak Djokovic as the Serb’s coach.

The decision came after Draper parted company with previous coach Jamie Delgado.

“I am very grateful for everything Jamie Delgado has done for me over these past six months. He is a world-class coach and a great man,” said Draper.

“In the interim, I will continue to be supported by the excellent team at the LTA, with the addition of Andy Murray, who will be supporting me throughout the grass-court season.”

But their partnership won’t get a public outing until Eastbourne, with Draper now skipping Queen’s.