Jack Draper out of Wimbledon as injury problems return

Neither of Britain’s two leading lights even took to the court at the All England Club after Draper – whose family hails from Wigan – revealed he has suffered a recurrence of his arm injury.

It is a devastating blow for the 24-year-old, who finally appeared to have put his latest fitness struggles behind him after a hugely difficult year in which he has played only a handful of tournaments.

Draper’s troubles began after Wimbledon last year, when he took nearly seven months off with bone bruising in his arm, and he then missed almost the entire clay-court season due to a knee injury.

The former world number four, who had been due to face sixth seed Taylor Fritz on Centre Court on Tuesday, said: “Devastated to share I have had to withdraw from my first-round match due to a recurrence of my arm injury.

“There have been a lot of painful moments in the last 12 months but this one is definitely the absolute worst as there is no greater honour for a British player than playing at Wimbledon. I will continue to persevere through this. Thank you for the support.”

Draper had finally returned to the court in Eastbourne last week for the first time since April and performed strongly, reaching the semi-finals under the guidance of new coach Andy Murray.

The former US Open semi-finalist gave no indication at a press conference on Sunday that he was a doubt for the tournament, saying he was “slowly but surely getting my body back to feeling great”.

Draper must hope that he will not be away from the court for another significant chunk of time but bone bruising is a difficult injury to shake off for good.

The news comes a day after Raducanu also withdrew from Wimbledon, revealing she is suffering from a stress fracture in her lower right leg.

That came as significantly less of a shock given the 23-year-old had clearly been struggling during practice, although she, too, had been optimistic she could at least take to the court.

There is no doubting the quality and potential of Draper and Raducanu but their physical fragility threatens to prevent them ever fulfilling that.

As well as more rehab for Draper, meanwhile, he must resolve his coaching situation after agreeing to work with Murray and former mentor James Trotman over the grass-court season.

Both Murray and Draper have spoken positively about extending the arrangement for the long term, with the latter saying: “This is the start of me and Andy’s relationship and I think that will carry on.

“I think we both hope that’s going to carry on and I think Andy really believes in me as a player and he knows I can achieve really, really great things, so I’m looking forward to that.”

Draper's dad, Roger, is the former Sport England, LTA and Super League chief who studied at Winstanley College.

His mother, Nicky, is a former junior British tennis champion.