Jack Draper cannot catch a break. One might wonder if he is made of glass, as he is so easily injured, but as much as he wants to play tennis, his body will not let him. He will miss Wimbledon 2026 with an arm injury.
He isn't the only British hopeful to miss the grass-court major. Emma Raducanu also withdrew before her first-round match. She has a stress fracture in her lower right leg, an issue that could keep her out for some time. Like Draper, Raducanu seems to miss more tournaments than she plays with different ailments.
Besides the players suffering losses in the rankings and no income from matches not being played, tennis fans also don't see two fan-favorites play. The draw of Draper and Raducanu goes well beyond the borders of the UK. The fanbase is global, though one might wonder if that fanbase will soon move on to follow other players.
Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu both forced to withdraw from Wimbledon 2026
The disappointment of not playing involves players and fans alike. The anticipation of seeing if a Brit can win their home major is great. On the men's side, only Andy Murray has accomplished the feat since 1936, when Fred Parry took the title. The last British woman to win Wimbledon was Virginia Wade in 1977, so nearly 50 years ago.
Ironically, Murray now coaches Draper, and one might hope that, as Murray was often injured, he might be able to show Draper how to consistently play and do well, even while not being 100 percent. One also assumes that Draper's arm injury is bad enough that his near future is in doubt. He did play at Eastbourne and was performing well, but maybe he should have skipped that event too.
Instead of him opening Wimbledon in a must-watch match against Taylor Fritz, Fritz, a player capable of winning the major if he performs at his best, will now take on lucky loser qualifier Dusan Lajovic. Fritz has played Lajovic three times and actually lost one of the matches. That was on the clay court of Lyon in 2018, though.
Maybe Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu will be healthy enough to play the next major, the US Open. But one also has a right to doubt that either player will remain healthy enough to be counted on to participate in any specific tournament. Their absence is both a loss to them and to tennis fans everywhere.
