Jack Draper will play his first match since April at the Eastbourne Open next week.
The former world number four missed the French Open due to a knee injury he sustained in Barcelona.
He subsequently withdrew from Queen’s, but will be back fit in time for Eastbourne, the week before Wimbledon.
Who is your early shout to win the men’s Wimbledon title?
Unfortunately for Draper, the draw hasn’t done him any favours.
Jack Draper will play Brandon Nakashima in the first round of the Eastbourne Open
Draper will play the American star Brandon Nakashima in the first round of Eastbourne.
Nakashima is a solid top-50 player, but is even more dangerous on grass.
He’s proven that this week at Queen’s, defeating Alex de Minaur en route to the semi-finals in London.
If Draper is anything less than 100%, he will have a tough time getting past Nakashima, who has already found form on grass this year.
It is, however, important to note that Draper won their previous two grass-court encounters, at the 2024 Stuttgart Open and 2025 Queen’s Club Championships.
Jack Draper and Brandon Nakashima’s head-to-head record (2-1)
- 2025 Queen’s QF – Jack Draper defeated Brandon Nakashima, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
- 2024 Stuttgart SF – Jack Draper defeated Brandon Nakashima, 6-3, 6-3
- 2022 Next Gen SF – Brandon Nakashima defeated Jack Draper, 4-3, 1-4, 4-2, 4-3
The Briton will hope to repeat the feat when they meet for a third time on grass in the first round of Eastbourne.
Luckily for Draper, his second-round match shouldn’t be quite so difficult.
He would meet either Camilo Ugo Carabelli or his countryman, Jack Pinnington Jones.
Assuming he is fit, Draper would walk on court for either match as a favourite to reach the quarter-finals.
He would then play Gabriel Diallo, Terence Atmane, or Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Of the three, Diallo would likely cause Draper the most problems, standing at six feet eight inches tall.
The big-serving Canadian won his maiden ATP Tour title on grass a year ago (2025 Libema Open) and threatened to upset Taylor Fritz in the second round of Wimbledon shortly after.
Looking further ahead, Draper could play Ugo Humbert or Joao Fonseca in the semi-finals, and the four-time Eastbourne champion, Fritz, in the final.
Draper would love to win the title, but playing his first tournament since April, completing matches will surely be the priority.
The Briton has only played nine matches this year and has fallen out of the world’s top 100 as a result.
Live ATP Rankings
| Rank | Name | Country | Points |
| 158 | Liam Draxl | Canada | 368 |
| 159 | Marco Cecchinato | Italy | 361 |
| 160 | Jack Draper | Great Britain | 360 |
| 161 | Lloyd Harris | South Africa | 359 |
| 162 | Zhang Zhizhen | China | 359 |
Returning in Eastbourne with Andy Murray by his side, Draper will begin his journey back to the top of men’s tennis.
Is Andy Murray the right coach for Jack Draper?
Earlier this week, Murray said he ‘hoped’ he would coach Draper long-term.
Murray is a relatively inexperienced coach, although his one previous role just so happened to be with the greatest player of all time.
In one of the most shocking developments in recent memory, Novak Djokovic hired Murray as his coach ahead of the 2025 season.
Under Murray’s guidance, Djokovic stunned Carlos Alcaraz in the Australian Open quarter-finals, before retiring with an injury against Alexander Zverev in the semis.
They enjoyed another positive result together at the Miami Open, where Djokovic lost in the final to Jakub Mensik.
Unfortunately for Djokovic and Murray, the good times didn’t last forever as they split following a poor start to the clay-court season, where the Serb lost his opening matches in Monte Carlo and Madrid.
Murray didn’t win a title in the six months he spent working with Djokovic.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion went on to win two titles in 2025 after his split from Murray, the first of which came in his first event with his new coaching team at the Geneva Open.
So Murray doesn’t necessarily have the accolades of a world-class coach, but it’s the intangibles that likely drew Draper to him.
No one knows the pressures of playing in the United Kingdom as a British player quite like Murray.
After all, he was the man who ended Great Britain’s 76-year wait for a Wimbledon singles title.
That knowledge and experience could prove vital for Draper, who surely has ambitions of becoming a Wimbledon champion one day.
For now, the focus is on Eastbourne and a tricky first-round tie against Nakashima on Monday, June 22.
