No. 5 Seed Jack Draper Withdraws From U.S. Open, Apologizes to Fans

Draper cited discomfort in his arm in his statement.
Draper said the discomfort in his arm had grown to be too much.
Draper said the discomfort in his arm had grown to be too much. / Mike Frey-Imagn Images

Tennis star Jack Draper of England, the No. 5 seed in the men's singles draw, has withdrawn from the U.S. Open, he announced Wednesday afternoon.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) that arrived ahead of his scheduled second-round match vs. Zizou Bergs of Belgium, Draper cited an injury to his left arm as the reason for his decision.

"Hi guys, I'm sorry to say I'll be withdrawing from the U.S. Open, he wrote. "I tried my very best to be here and give myseslf the chance to play but the discomfort in my arm has become too much and I have to do what is right and look after myself. Thank you all for the support."

In his pre-tournament press conference, Draper, who plays left-handed, said he had been dealing with “bone stress, bone bruising in my humerus on my left side” since mid-clay season.

It's a sad turn of events for the 23-year-old, who made it to the tournament semifinals in 2024 (he would go on to lose to current world No. 1 Jannik Sinner) and had already won his opening match vs. Argentina’s Federico Agustin Gomez.

Bergs will now progress to the third round by walkover.


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Brigid Kennedy
BRIGID KENNEDY

Brigid Kennedy is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, she covered political news, sporting news and culture at TheWeek.com before moving to Livingetc, an interior design magazine. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, dual majoring in television, radio and film (from the Newhouse School of Public Communications) and marketing managment (from the Whitman School of Management). Offline, she enjoys going to the movies, reading and watching the Steelers.