Jack Draper is slowly but surely becoming a regular on the Tour once again. The Brit has barely been able to participate in tournaments for almost the last year due to injury problems. Now that he is back at competing for titles again, Draper has been forced to abandon familiar equipment and techniques to protect his body, even if it means playing with gear that feels alien.

Turns out Draper is now using a more flexible racket with a hybrid string setup, even switching to a frame outside his Dunlop sponsorship. The reason? Chronic bone bruising in his left arm.

“After this long period, my shift has gone away from performance,” Jack Draper said in an interview with The Guardian. “I’m changing my string. I desperately don’t want to. I desperately know it’s hopefully not something that I’m going to have to do moving forwards, but it’s something I have to do for the nature of my injury. Same with the racket.”

While the 24-year-old admitted that he isn’t going through the best of times, he also feels that his confidence and circumstances would get much better if he retains full fitness by the end of this season.

Get the Break Point Newsletter. Daily tennis news spanning the WTA, ATP, and Grand Slams — from on-court action to off-court storylines.

“It’s a difficult one because I’m a winner. I’m out there, I want to perform. But I have to accept reality, which is that I have to find a way in very uncomfortable circumstances right now.

“But if that can get me to the end of the year where I’m feeling really good again, and my body’s in a great place, and my mind’s in a great place, then that’s only going to help me to move completely past this injury. But there is a way out, and I’m seeing that on a day-to-day basis,” he added.

Draper’s arm injury at the 2025 US Open sidelined him until February 2026. Since then, he has played only seven tournaments before the start of Cincinnati Open.

He announced his return with a memorable 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 Indian Wells victory over Novak Djokovic, but Daniil Medvedev ended his run in the quarterfinals, followed by a first‑round exit in Miami.

A right‑knee injury at Barcelona then kept Draper out for two months. He resurfaced at Eastbourne with a semifinal run, only for the arm problem to force a last‑minute Wimbledon withdrawal.

A Season of Setbacks for Drapper

His hard‑court season has been equally frustrating. At the Canadian Open, Terence Atmane beat him in three sets by 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.

In Cincinnati, Jack Draper lost 6‑3, 7‑5 to Martin Landaluce despite leading 5‑2 in the second set. Five service breaks and just 47% of points won on his second serve told the story of a player still searching for rhythm.

The defeats have left Draper outside the top 140. He earned wildcards for Montreal and Cincinnati, but his US Open entry may now depend on qualifying rounds if organizers decline another wildcard.

For Jack Draper, the bigger battle is not just rankings but finding a way to compete with equipment that feels “uncomfortable” but necessary. If the trade‑offs keep him healthy, he believes the payoff will come later.