British number 1 Jack Draper has delayed his clay season and withdrawn from the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, which is due to begin on the upcoming Sunday. After leaving his mark on clay last year, he became the first British player to reach a Masters 1000 final on clay at the Madrid Open, narrowly missing out on the title, where he lost to Casper Ruud in three sets, 5-7, 6-3, 4-6.
Having sat out the remaining season after the US Open last year, he rested for his perpetual left arm injury, bruised humerus, and came back in action at the Davis Cup group qualification match, where he defeated Viktor Durasovic of Norway in a dominating fashion, recording his first match and first victory of the year.
Further, he has reached the second round in Dubai and the quarter-finals at Indian Wells, where he was the defending champion, getting knocked out by the eventual finalist, (11) Daniil Medvedev, in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5). A week later, he bowed out in the opening round of the Miami Masters, losing to Reilly Opelka, 7-6(3), 7-6(0).
The Brit is looking forward to playing at the ATP 500 Barcelona, which begins right after the Monte Carlo Masters. After Barcelona, he will be playing at Munich, Hamburg, and Geneva, and at the ATP 1000 Masters in Madrid and Rome, warming up for the clay grand slam, Roland Garros, in Paris. He will be substituted by the German Daniel Altmaier.
Likewise, the two-time champion, Novak Djokovic has withdrawn due to a right shoulder injury and will be replaced by the Argentine Sebastian Baez, Sebastian Korda has withdrawn due to a back injury and will be replaced by the French Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, and Taylor Fritz has withdrawn citing a persistent knee injury and wants to get 100% healed and will also be replaced by another Frenchman, Terence Atmane.
The top eight seeds will be Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Lorenzo Musetti, Alex De Minaur, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Daniil Medvedev, and Alexander Bublik, in that order. World number nine Ben Shelton is playing at the ATP 250 Houston US Men’s Clay Court Championship as the top seed, beginning his clay season there.
You can also read Big 4: The End of a Wonderful Era in Men’s Tennis for a wider context on the current men’s game.