Overview
- Draper confirmed on Monday that a knee tendon issue has forced him out of the Madrid Open and the Italian Open after he retired in Barcelona last week.
- He says recovery is going well and he feels optimistic for the French Open after an extended layoff last year for a bone bruise in his serving arm.
- Ranking projections differ, with Tennishead estimating a 650-point drop to about No. 47 and Yahoo Sports warning of an 850-point loss that could push him outside the top 70, which would likely leave him unseeded in Paris.
- If he is fit to return before Roland Garros, his realistic tune-up options are limited to Hamburg or Geneva in the week before the tournament.
- His absence adds to a thinning Madrid field that already lost Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, reflecting a clay swing riddled with injuries.