Draper Returns at Eastbourne Under New Coach Murray
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Jack Draper will return from injury at Eastbourne next week — his first competitive match since early April — ahead of Wimbledon, which starts June 29.
- Andy Murray, the 39-year-old three-time Grand Slam champion, joined Draper's coaching team last month to "support" him over the grass-court season, replacing former coach Jamie Delgado.
- Draper withdrew from Queen's last week but has been training with Murray at the National Tennis Centre in London and now feels ready to compete, according to the report.
- Murray told BBC Sport he hopes the partnership is long-term, calling Draper "a super quick learner and a brilliant player" and saying he has "no doubt" Draper can challenge the best.
- Draper has played only 11 matches in the past year after bone bruising in his serving arm and a knee injury at Barcelona, causing him to drop out of the world's top 100 from a previous ranking as high as No. 4.
- Emma Raducanu, the British women's number one, has opted not to play Eastbourne, preferring to continue Wimbledon preparations on practice courts with coach Andrew Richardson, who was rehired last month.
Why it matters: Eastbourne is a critical fitness checkpoint before Wimbledon: if Draper couldn't handle best-of-three there, best-of-five at the All England Club would be unthinkable. With Murray overseeing his first tournament as coach, the event offers the first public measure of whether the three-time Slam champion can translate his expertise to Britain's next leading male player, who has fallen from the world's top five to outside the top 100 over a year of injuries.
