Jack Draper says he’s steadily building back up to 100 per cent ahead of his return to the tennis court next month. Draper has not played since having to withdraw from the US Open at the end of August with an injury. That brought an early end to his season and forced him to withdraw from contention for the season-ending ATP Finals in Saudi Arabia which offers a maximum of £3.8million to the champion.
Draper will be back at the UTS London Grand Final at the Copper Box Arena on December 5-7. The 23-year-old’s first match comes against Belgian David Goffin and he will also face Casper Ruud and Francisco Cerundolo in Group B. Alex de Minaur, Andrey Rublev, Tomas Machac and Adrian Mannarino are in Group A.
A UTS London Grand Final winner already in 2023, third seed Draper says he’s feeling better and better as the tournament draws near and can’t wait for some vital match practice. He told UTS: “I’m on really good form. Obviously, I’ve had a bit of time out the game and that’s been difficult in some ways, to miss out on competing so much, especially considering the kind of trajectory and the way I was feeling in my tennis and my body and mind.
“But that’s what happens. I couldn’t wallow. I had to do other stuff outside of tennis, and now I’m building up, and I’m looking forward to playing the UTS in December to get some matches in.
“I’m building up. I’m still a while away from playing the UTS event, and I’m going to be more than ready to compete there. But is one of those things where you have to take this kind of injury slowly, and you have to be really ready and not let something linger for a while.
“I think I came back a bit too soon when I played the US Open so after that I decided to really shut it down and look after it. And now I’m building up my confidence and building up my tennis to be at full throttle again.”
The UTS format is very different to other tennis events. Matches are four quarters of eight minutes each and there is a maximum of 15 seconds between points and no second serves. Coaches are allowed to coach from the sidelines throughout and bonus cards – which means the next point counts as three – can be used by players once per quarter too.
Draper added: “It has a lot of fun, especially with the UTS rules, it creates a bit of carnage, and that’s really fun for the spectators, and also as players, it’s something a bit different.
“We’re used to playing a certain format all the time. So to have a bit of versatility in what we’re doing is going to be going to be really fun. I know those guys, they’re all good guys, and they’ve all got great games. So those matches will be a lot of fun.
“It’s a chance to compete, also a chance to play the world’s best players again. I think when you have time out the game, it’s really important to sort of get on their speed again.
“And having the opportunity to play before the coming season is important, I think, and really importantly for me, playing in front of my home crowd, playing at the UTS in London, playing at the Copper Box Arena, haven’t played there before, so I’m looking forward to that.
“There’s been a lot of training and a lot of waiting around and competing is what I do best. I’m looking forward to that. It’s really good for your endurance. Obviously, the eight minutes straight, and the different timings and all that sort of stuff.
“There’s a lot of different rules, and that makes it harder physically. So it’s good prep for what’s to come for me, and I’m going to need a lot of lot of reps in my body to get back to full fitness.”
For UTS London Grand Final tickets and VIP Packages, please go to www.uts.live
