In early December, world quantity 10 Draper additionally pulled out of the Final Tennis Showdown (UTS) grand last in London, citing his frustration at not being “fairly prepared”.
Draper first felt discomfort in his higher left serving arm throughout the clay-court season within the spring, and whereas he tried to return on the US Open in late August – enjoying alongside Jessica Pegula within the blended doubles and successful his first-round match within the singles – he withdrew from the event due to the discomfort.
He continued: “Clearly, with Australia being a Grand Slam, it is one of many greatest tournaments in our sport.
“Nonetheless, I’ve had this harm for a very long time. I am on the very, very finish levels of the [recovery] course of and to step again on court docket into best-of-five-set tennis so quickly simply does not appear to be a good move proper now for me and my tennis.
“I’ve clearly been via a good quantity of setbacks however by far, this one has been probably the most tough, probably the most difficult, probably the most complicated one which I’ve had.”
Draper carried out strongly within the first a part of the yr, reaching a career-high world rating of 4 in June and in addition securing a maiden Masters 1000 title with victory over Denmark’s Holger Rune within the Indian Wells last in March.
