Jack Draper looking to avoid major rankings slide as he returns to winning ways in Dubai

Kevin Palmer 23 Feb 2026 9:19 PM

Jack Draper at the US Open

Jack Draper has made a winning return to the ATP Tour and he will already be eyeing up a rankings surge ahead of what will be a crucial few weeks in his season.

The British No 1 has not played a match on the regular tour since he was forced to pull out of the US Open in August and prior to that, he had not competed since losing against Marin Cilic in July.

He won one match for Great Britain in the Davis Cup earlier this month and then promptly pulled out of the Rotterdam Open the following week as he suggested he was not ready to risk the arm problem he has been nursing for several months.

Draper has been suffering from bone bruising in his right arm and while he was not at his best in his ATP Tour comeback match against France’s Quentin Halys in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, he found a way to seal a 7-6(8) 6-3 win against the qualifier.

The Brit saved three set points and clinched the first set in one hour and six minutes and then moved clear of his rival in the second set.

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“It feels so good, honestly. To be out here, to be competing in front of people,” said Draper.

“I had a tough opponent today, I think he was tricky, he served great and it could’ve been a bit cleaner from my side, but I haven’t played in a long time on the tour so really proud of the way I came out today.

“Hopefully I can keep going from strength-to-strength here and staying on court.

“I’ve been craving the feeling of competing for a very long time. It just felt normal, it felt like I was coming back to doing what I love, which is being out here, competing and having the adrenaline of winning and losing points.

“A lot of people have helped me to get back to this position after a lot of down moments (over) the last eight months, it’s not been easy to be back here and that’s something I can be really proud of. Long may it continue.”

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The win for Draper was a welcome boost in his comeback bid and he will want to step up his levels of intensity ahead of his defence of the Indian Wells title in California next month.

Draper will have 1,000 ranking points to defend in that marquee ATP Tour event and this win against Halys has already got his ranking moving in the right direction, with a one-place rise in the live ATP Rankings to No 14.

An early exit at Indian Wells this year could see Draper tumble out of the top 20 of the ATP Rankings, but he can negate some of the impact of any early defeat in Indian Wells with a strong run in Dubai, where there are 500 ranking points available for the champion.

Draper is in the same half of the draw as No 2 seed Alexander Bublik, but he will have tough tests ahead before a potential semi-final meeting with the Kazakhstani player.