Skip to main content

Tenth-ranked Draper not ready to return for Australian Open

LONDON (AP) — Jack Draper, who has played just one tennis match since Wimbledon because of injury, will not be fit for next month’s Australian Open.

The 10th-ranked Draper’s 2025 season was prematurely curtailed by bone bruising in his left arm.

“Unfortunately, me and my team have decided not to head out to Australia this year,” the 24-year-old British player said in a video on X on Friday. “It’s a really, really tough decision. Obviously Australia being a Grand Slam, it’s one of the biggest tournaments in our sport.

“However, I’ve had this injury for a long time. I’m at the very, very end stages of the process and to step back on court into best-of-five-set tennis so soon just doesn’t seem like a smart decision right now.”

Draper withdrew from his second-round match at the US Open in August before calling time on his season soon after. He was beaten by Marin Cilic in the second round of Wimbledon in July.

The Australian Open in Melbourne starts on January 18.

___

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Australian court bans man from contacting Norwegian princess studying in Sydney

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A 63-year-old man was banned on Wednesday from contacting Norway's Princess Ingrid Alexander or her family for two years as she studies at a university in Australia. David James Cook appeared in court where he was issued with a two-year Apprehended Violence Order that prevents him from entering the Sydney University campus, searching the 22-year-old royal online or contacting her or her family. Such orders are intended to prevent an individual from subjecting another person to acts of violence, intimidation or harassment. Cook told reporters as he left the Newtown Court House, in Sydney, that the order stemmed from a card he sent to Ingrid, who is second in line to the Norwegian throne.
Read Next Story