Jack Draper bursts into tears mid-match in distressing scenes at Canadian Open | Tennis | Sport

Jack Draper burst into tears in the middle of his comeback match at the Canadian Open. The British star reached a career-high ranking of No. 4 last summer, but has since been plagued by injuries and has spent the better part of a year on the sidelined. Draper, 24, pulled out of Wimbledon earlier this summer and also withdrew from the recent DC Open in Washington last week.

But there were promising signs when the Brit took a wildcard into the Masters 1000 in Montreal, and took to the court to face Terence Atmane in his first match since June 26. After losing the first set, Draper stormed through the second to take it 6-2. But he quickly went a double-break down in the decider and suddenly started crying during a changeover.

“This is pretty emotional actually. He’s been bent over and just literally erupting with emotion here. Very, very upsetting to see. It just happened at the change of ends, he leaned foward. You weren’t sure, Adam, if he was about to be sick,” Annabel Croft told viewers on Sky Sports.

Co-commentator Adam Fielder replied: “I thought he looked ill, initially, and then the camera panned around to the side and we saw him really, really emotional here. It’s carried on during the change of ends. We’ve noticed, certainly the last 10, 15 minutes, he’s just not looked right, so one can only imagine that maybe he’s feeling the injury again.”

As the tears continued to fall down Draper’s face, Croft added: “That’s my instinct. I’m with you, that would be my first instinct, is that he knows what’s going on inside his body, and he knows the work he’s done to try and get back on court.”

Trailing 1-4 in the final set, the Brit, who is currently ranked down at No. 143 in the world, played on and even had opportunities to get one break back in the next game. But he couldn’t take them, and Atmane went on to win 6-4 2-6 6-2. As they shook hands at the net, the Frenchman told Draper: “Hope everything is alright.”

The former world No. 4 got off to a positive start in his first match since the Eastbourne Open, having break points early in the first set. Although he lost it, he stormed through the second set to force a decider and looked to be growing into his match, with a forehand quality of 9.7 in set two.

But Draper suddenly started decelerating on his serves early in the decider, and Croft and Fielder speculated whether something was wrong. “Something has happened,” Croft said. And their fears were confirmed when the tears started flowing.

The former Indian Wells champion’s career has been derailed by bone bruising in his left arm. Last year, the issue forced him to miss seven weeks of competition between Wimbledon and the US Open. He played and won just one match in Flushing Meadows before pulling out of the tournament, and then ended his season early.

Draper was then expected to return in Australia at the start of the season, but only made his comeback at a Davis Cup tie in February. But the Canadian Open was just Draper’s sixth tournament of the season, as he has battled more physical setbacks. He also picked up a knee injury at the Barcelona Open in April, which forced him out until the Eastbourne Open.

The former No. 4 has shown flashes of brilliance when he has been fit. Draper reached the quarter-finals in Indian Wells, stunning Novak Djokovic en route, and also reached the last four in Eastbourne.

But the ongoing left arm injury forced him to withdraw from Wimbledon just one day before his opening match. Draper then travelled to Washington, but felt an awareness of the arm issue again and withdrew. The three-time title winner also added Andy Murray to his camp ahead of the grass season, but Draper has barely been able to compete since their link-up.

The British No. 6 has already received a wildcard into the upcoming Cincinnati Open, which begins late next week. But it remains to be seen whether he will be able to take to the court after the tearful scenes in Canada.