“Mentally destroyed” Jack Draper cursed his injury luck once again after being forced out of the French Open with a shoulder problem.
The 21-year-old has struggled with hip and abdominal issues this season but declared himself fully fit ahead of the year’s second grand slam.
However, it became clear in the eighth game of his first-round contest against Argentinian Tomas Etcheverry that Draper was ailing physically again when he started to serve underarm.
He managed to hold serve to make it 4-4 but Etcheverry claimed the next two games to take the opening set, after which a resigned-looking Draper called the trainer.
He took some pills and tried to play on but, trailing 0-30 in the second game of the second set, pulled the plug and shook hands with his opponent before trudging off court.
“Yesterday during practice when I was hitting serves, I started to feel a bit of a twinge at the bottom of my shoulder,” said Draper.
“I took all the things I needed to go on court today, hoping it would settle down. But it didn’t. It got worse. I had every intention to try to compete and play well, but after the first game it was clear that it was very sore.
“I hate being the guy who is injured a lot. It’s difficult. Mentally, it’s extremely tough, tougher than playing and losing almost.
“I put in a lot of work. I had a good week last week and I’m coming here feeling optimistic but it’s not meant to be. I feel a bit mentally destroyed.”
There is no doubt about Draper’s potential but, rather like his friend Emma Raducanu, his body has so far been unable to hold up to the rigours of top-level tennis.
He is optimistic this issue will not seriously impact his grass-court prospects, with Wimbledon starting in five weeks.
“I said to my coach in the first set, ‘I’m not retiring from another match’,” said a dejected Draper. “I don’t want to do this. Even if I had to play three sets serving underarm, I don’t care, I just wanted to play.
“But there’s no point in making this worse. I’ve obviously got to think about the grass round the corner and hope it settles down before that.
“It’s not a tear or a strain, it’s something to do with the tendon at the top of my arm. And, if I’m trying to serve 130mph serves, the impact, it’s just going to get more and more sore.
“It’s a huge part of my game, my serve, so hopefully it settles down but I have no idea how long that might be.
“I think I’ll be more than fine for Wimbledon, it’s just what’s going on in the weeks coming up.”
Draper feels his tennis abilities are counting against him to a degree, with the British number four winning two matches in Lyon last week on his return from the abdominal injury he suffered in March.
“I’d almost maybe be happier in the future if I lost first or second round, to make sure I’m not coming back off a five week lay-off and winning three or two matches at a high level,” he said.
“Same in Indian wells, I won three matches and against (Carlos) Alcaraz it’s just too much. It’s really frustrating. But I will get there. It’s just a brutal sport.”
Boris Becker ‘working hard with the authorities’ to return to Wimbledon in 2025
Boris Becker says he is “working hard with the authorities” to return to the UK and Wimbledon in 2025.
The three-time Wimbledon men’s singles champion was deported from the UK in December 2022 after serving eight months of a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for hiding £2.5m of assets and loans in a bankruptcy fraud case.
Becker cannot return to the UK until October 2024 at the earliest following his deportation, but the 56-year-old German plans to return to the tournament he says is “in my DNA” as soon as possible.
“Wimbledon has been my favourite tournament as a player, coach and commentator,” Becker said at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Madrid.
“It’s unique, you can’t compare it.
“I lived in Wimbledon a long time so I’m working hard with the authorities to have all the applications ready to be back for next year. We’re working on 2025.
“It’s a part of my life. It’s in my DNA, you can’t deny that.”
Asked if he would be back in the Wimbledon commentary box, Becker replied: “I hope so.”
Becker has not been involved in tennis since stepping down as Holger Rune’s head coach at the start of February.
The pair spent less than four months together, but in that time the 20-year-old qualified for the ATP finals in Italy.
::The 25th Laureus World Sports Awards take place on Monday evening in Madrid. To find out more, and follow the ceremony, visit www.laureus.com
Former Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza announces retirement
Former Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza has announced her retirement from tennis.
The 30-year-old Spaniard won the French Open in 2016 before lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish on Centre Court the following summer but she had not played a competitive match since January 2023.
At a press conference where she was announced as a Laureus Ambassador, Muguruza said: “If 25 years ago, when I started hitting my first tennis balls, someone had told me that I would become a professional tennis player, that I would fulfil my dream of winning Roland Garros and Wimbledon, that I would become number one in the world and win the WTA Finals, I would have thought this person was crazy.
View this post on Instagram“Tennis has given me a lot in this first part of my life. It has been a fantastic journey in which I have experienced unique situations. I have travelled all over the world and experienced many different cultures.
“I am tremendously grateful to all the people who have helped and accompanied me throughout this chapter, because without them I would not have been able to get here.
“I have grown and matured in a very different way than what can be considered normal, and now I am ready to start a new chapter in my life, which will surely be linked in some way to tennis and sports.
“I hope that my collaboration with Laureus Sport for Good is the beginning of many more projects in which I can dedicate myself and help young people through sport.”
Muguruza turned professional in 2012 and reached her first grand slam final three years later at Wimbledon, where she was beaten by Serena Williams.
But the big-hitting Spaniard took revenge in 2016 when she stunned Williams in the final at Roland Garros, and a year later she beat Venus Williams to add the Wimbledon trophy to her collection.
She climbed to the top of the rankings in September 2017, where she stayed for four weeks, but consistency was not Muguruza’s strong point and she slipped down the standings before a resurgence in 2020.
Muguruza reached her fourth grand slam final at the Australian Open, losing to American Sofia Kenin, and she returned to the world’s top three at the end of 2021 after winning the WTA Finals for the first time.
But the next season saw her plummet back down the rankings and her retirement comes as no surprise given her long hiatus from the sport.
Emma Raducanu’s run at Stuttgart Open ended by world number one Iga Swiatek
Emma Raducanu’s progress in the Stuttgart Open was halted in straight sets by world number one Iga Swiatek.
The Polish four-time grand slam champion, in her 100th week on top of the ATP world rankings, prevailed 7-6 (2) 6-3 to set up a semi-final showdown with Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina.
It was, however, an encouraging quarter-final performance from Raducanu, who has slipped to 303 in the world rankings after a torrid 2023.
Raducanu came in to the contest on a high after winning four matches in a row for the first time since her US Open title in 2021 and raised confidence levels were reflected in the opening exchanges.
Several booming returns from the 21-year-old Briton turned a 0-40 deficit into an immediate break of serve, but Swiatek levelled after edging a second game that featured seven deuces.
That see-saw battle set the tone for a marathon 70-minute opening set which produced plenty of high-quality ground strokes from both sides of the net.
The match went with serve from that point, with Raducanu superbly holding her nerve at 5-4 and 6-5 down to force the first set to a tie-break.
Swiatek completely dominated the tie-break though, winning the first four points before closing it out 7-2.
Raducanu was quickly in trouble again in the second set, falling 2-0 behind and covered in clay after losing her footing on the baseline.
She continued to fight and fended off break points in her next two service games to stay in the match.
But Swiatek kept up the pressure to finally end Raducanu’s resistance to move in to the last four.
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