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Jack Draper's preparations for 2026 have begun sooner than anticipated

An arm injury has limited him to just a single competitive outing since Wimbledon - and forced him to end his season early after pain became unbearable at the New York major in late summer

Comeback Trail

But the young British top-ten player is back in training, and organizers of a weekend tournament in London in December are confident he will be ready to compete

Draper is planning to make his comeback at the showcase event in London, having been granted a special invitation by the event founder

"He expressed certainty - if not he wouldn't accept to be included," the renowned coach stated

"I'm convinced he's going to play. The sole approach you can do is allow time for healing. It will require a long time before returning to competition"

Injury Management

"It's impossible to compete on a bone bruise, because the next stage is a stress fracture and you cannot risk the risk to have a bone injury"

"When you have a bone bruise on the arm, you can perform a lot of fitness, so you maintain fitness. It's annoying because you must cease entirely and be patient until it's completely clean again"

Present Training

Draper was showcasing upcoming season's line for one of his corporate partners recently and has been training consistently at the premier training facility in the city

The training is mainly physical at the moment, and when off-season preparation starts in earnest later this month, the first tennis exercises are expected to be moderate in effort

Injury Timeline

The top-ranked UK player first felt discomfort in his upper left serving arm during the clay court season in the spring, and following a scan after Wimbledon, did not hit any serves for a four-week period

But the period of rest proved insufficient. He won his first-round match at the Flushing Meadows, but pulled out before the second, and the chance to make his first appearance at the year-end championships was lost

"He ranks among the best and he competed in half of the year. This demonstrates how good he is..." Mouratoglou added

"His only problem for the moment is the injuries: he has been through several injuries previously in the earlier career"

Career Outlook

"I always thought he was going to be a elite competitor, but for every player that is supposed to become a top player, there are things to address"

"For him, the key is discovering a method to be injury free as much as possible because this factor caused him to miss a significant period otherwise he would be higher in the rankings, I think"

Tournament Information

The prestigious event will be hosted at the London arena from early December

Draper triumphed at the event in last year and pocketed what was then the biggest pay cheque of his professional journey

Three-time Grand Slam finalist Casper Ruud will additionally be in the eight-man field for matches played over four eight-minute quarters

• Only 15 seconds are permitted between points
• There is only one serve attempt
• Bonus cards can be played to increase the points of the following rally by multiple times