Jack Draper. Mike Frey-Imagn Images

Jack Draper's U.S. Open withdrawal caps off erratic season for British No. 1

By Sai Mohan | Last updated Aug 28, 2025 8:11 AM ET

World No. 5 Jack Draper has withdrawn from the U.S. Open with an arm injury, capping off a subpar major season for the British No. 1.

The southpaw failed to advance past the fourth round at the Australian Open and Roland-Garros and crashed out in the second round at Wimbledon — a series of underwhelming results for a player who was touted as a prospective member of the new Big 3 of men's tennis.

Those high expectations were placed upon Draper after he reached the semifinal of last year's U.S. Open and followed it up with his first ATP Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells earlier this year. However, he couldn't participate in any of the hard-court events in preparation for Flushing Meadows due to a bone bruising in his left humerus.

Draper played through the injury in his first-round match against Federico Agustin Gomez on Monday, but withdrew from his second-round match on Wednesday a few hours before taking the court.

Hi guys, I’m sorry to say I’ll be withdrawing from the US open. I tried my very best to be here and give myself the every chance to play but the discomfort in my arm has become to much and I have to do what is right and look after myself. Thank you for all the support.
— jack draper (@jackdraper0) August 27, 2025

In the lead-up to the final major of 2025, Draper confirmed he couldn't play any matches after his Wimbledon exit due to the same bone issue.

“I first started feeling it towards the middle of the clay season,” he said, via The Independent. "I felt like my arm was shutting down a little bit when I was hitting forehands and on the serve, as well. It kind of got progressively a bit worse."

Draper's withdrawal means Zizou Bergs, his scheduled opponent, will move into the third round of the U.S. Open for the first time in his career, where he'll face 31st seed Gabriel Diallo or Jaume Munnar.

The Briton, currently seventh in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin, can still end 2025 on a high note by winning the Nitto ATP Finals in November. He narrowly missed qualifying for last year's event in Italy.

Besides Draper, the U.S. Open men's draw lost three other top-ranked players on Wednesday, as World No. 11 Holger Rune, No. 12 Casper Ruud and No. 16 Jakub Mensik suffered upset losses.

Sai Mohan

A veteran sportswriter based in Portugal, Sai covers the NBA for Yardbarker and a few local news outlets. He had the honor of covering sporting events across four different continents as a newspaper reporter. Some of his all-time favorite athletes include Mike Tyson, Larry Bird, Luís Figo, Ayrton Senna and Steffi Graf.

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