Jack Draper was in tears during a loss to Terence Atmane as the Brit’s long-term arm injury appeared to hamper on him on his return to action in Montreal.
Playing in just his sixth tournament of the year, and a first since pulling out of Wimbledon, Draper was beaten 6-3 2-6 6-2 by France’s Atmane.
After a rusty start, Draper appeared to have found form as he dominated the second set, but his performance suddenly dropped off in the decider as the power in his serves and groundstrokes reduced massively.
When trailing 4-1, Draper sat down and spent the entire changeover crying, apparently uncontrollably.
The 24-year-old carried on and almost claimed a break before spiritedly holding serve one more time, before Atmane closed out victory in an hour and 52 minutes.
Draper had established himself as one of the biggest challengers to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s dominance of the men’s game as he moved up to a career high No 4 ranking in June 2025.
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Highlights of the first round match at the Canadian Open between Terence Atmane and Jack Draper.
It was around that time that Draper began suffering from a bone bruise in his left arm, an injury that has continued to hamper him ever since.
In 2026, he put together runs to the quarter-finals at Indian Wells in March and the semi-finals at Eastbourne in June, but has been unable to stay on the court consistently.
Sir Andy Murray has been part of Draper’s coaching team since May, but Montreal was just the second tournament he has been able to play in during their partnership.
Croft: Very upsetting to see
Sky Sports pundit Annabel Croft, who was commentating on the match, said it was “very upsetting” to see Draper in such distress.
Responding immediately to Draper’s tears, Croft said: “This is pretty emotional. He’s bent over and literally erupting with emotion here. It’s very, very upsetting to see.”
Reflecting on the moment as the match neared an end, Croft added: “I can only assume that the arm is hurting.
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Draper had said his focus was on a ‘rebirth’ ahead of his return to action in Montreal.
“He couldn’t hold it in and he let it all out. You just wonder what is going through his mind for all that emotion to be there.
“I think we both felt that it was to do with this horrible injury that might have reared its ugly head again, and the knowledge of what it’s taken for him to get out on court again.
“He actually played a very decent second set and it was looking fairly positive, but then there was this massive drop-off of pace on that serve.
“And it was very obvious very quickly that he was not going after big serves, he was rolling them in. He hasn’t really hit a serve since, and hasn’t really gone after any too many ground strokes either.”
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