Jack Draper withdraws from Monte Carlo Masters as comeback put on hold

Jack Draper has withdrawn from next week's Monte Carlo Masters as he continues to navigate his comeback from an arm injury that derailed his 2025 season. The British No. 2 did not play a match from August until February while suffering from bone bruising in his left humerus.

He returned to action during a Davis Cup tie and then played two matches in Doha before a statement run to the quarter-finals at Indian Wells, where he stunned Novak Djokovic in the fourth round. Draper lost his opening match in Miami, and will now skip the first tournament of the clay-court swing.

Express Sport

understands that the world No. 25 is hoping to work on his game in the coming weeks. Draper has already been spotted at the National Tennis Centre in recent days and will continue training this week. He is expected to return at the ATP 500 event in Barcelona, taking place from April 13 to 19.

After losing to 6ft 11inch big-server Reilly Opelka in two tiebreak sets in Miami, Draper told Sky Sports: "It's a difficult one. Obviously I haven't played a load of tennis, it's still the very start of my comeback from my injury, so it's going to take time.

"I've just got to keep on chipping away with my team, trying to do all the right things, practising well. The thing I'm looking forward to the most is earning the right to get momentum again."

Draper reached the last 16 in Monte Carlo last year, losing to former finalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. He will lose 100 ranking points for skipping the tournament.

And the Brit has a lot more ranking points to defend during the upcoming clay swing. He finished runner-up at the Madrid Open last year, and reached the quarter-finals in Rome, and the fourth round of the French Open.

But there will be ample opportunity for the former world No. 4 to rebuild his ranking in the latter half of the year, and Draper seems keen to invest in his game to reap the rewards as the season goes on.

Following a second-round exit from Wimbledon last year, he missed seven weeks before returning at the US Open. There, he won one match and then pulled out of the tournament, sitting out the rest of the season.