Former British No 1 gives rare insight after Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper’s struggles continue
Laura Robson has revealed that Jack Draper is ‘hopeful’ of being fit enough to play the upcoming French Open, while also advising Emma Raducanu to fully recover before attempting to return from her viral illness.
The two Brits have been down on their luck in 2026, unable to string together a consistent schedule.
Draper’s issues began during the 2025 clay-court season after he picked up elbow discomfort, despite reaching a maiden clay-court Masters 1000 final at the Madrid Open.
He then suffered a shock second-round loss to former Grand Slam champion Marin Cilic at Wimbledon and played just one match at the US Open before prematurely ending his season.
The former world No 4 also sat out the Australian Open before returning at the Dubai Championships.
Two weeks later, he began his Indian Wells Masters title defence and reached the quarter-finals, defeating five-time former champion Novak Djokovic in a three-set thriller.
More recently, he opted out of the Monte-Carlo Masters and then retired against Tomas Martin Etcheverry in his opening match at the Barcelona Open.
Most worryingly, that retirement was not related to his arm issues but instead due to knee discomfort.
Just two days before the upcoming Madrid Open, Draper announced that he would also miss both Madrid and the Italian Open.
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“The good news is it’s not the elbow issue that kept him [Draper] out for the majority of the 2025 season,” began the Brit during an interview with Sky Sports.
“If you remember, he didn’t play after Wimbledon, tried to come back at the US Open, and then ended up taking the rest of the year off until just a few weeks ago at Indian Wells.
“And that was with a really tough elbow issue that was a bit of a stress-related injury. You know, you try and push through it and it just doesn’t go well.
“So he really took the time out to make sure that that was back to 100%. And unfortunately, this is now a knee issue, which so often happens when you’re coming back from one thing – you compensate.
“You feel like you haven’t been able to, you know, get the work in where it needs to happen in the gym and on the practice court.
“But the good thing is this is just a bit of a tendon issue. He’s looking to take a couple of weeks off now. He had to retire from his match in Barcelona last week, but is hopeful that he’ll be able to play Roland Garros, and if not, the week before.
“So that’s really what we’re going to be looking out for whether he plays one of those ATP 250 events, slightly smaller events, before Roland-Garros to try and get some match practice in.
“You don’t want to go into a best-of-five situation undercooked, feeling ill-prepared and, you know, without that sort of match intensity that only comes back with playing week in, week out.
“So he’s still hopeful that the clay season isn’t over for him.”
Raducanu, meanwhile, has played a far greater number of tournaments than Draper, but has been affected by a persistent viral illness for more than two months.
In February, the Brit – then the top seed – powered through the field at the Transylvania Open to reach the final, where she fell to Sorana Cirstea.
However, the following week she appeared a shadow of herself at the Qatar Open, retiring while trailing 2–6, 6–4, 2–0 against Camila Osorio in the opening round.
Raducanu then lost her opening match at the Dubai Championships (to Antonia Ruzic), before being outclassed by sixth seed Amanda Anisimova in the third round of the WTA 1000 event in Indian Wells.
Since her most recent professional match, the 2021 US Open champion has withdrawn from events in Miami and Linz, as well as the upcoming Madrid Open.
“Yeah, unfortunately, Emma Raducanu is still struggling with the effects of a viral illness that she picked up back in February,” Robson added.
“So then she tried to go and play on the American hard courts, wasn’t able to sustain that consistency, and is just deciding to take some more time off.
“But, you know, it’s kind of a bit of an unknown at the moment. She’s not been able to put the work in on the practice court, which means that absolutely it’s not the right decision to come to a big tournament like Madrid and try and risk it.
“And, you know, ultimately, I feel like only she knows the answer to that question. So when we see her, it’s very much unsure – very much up in the air at the moment – but hopefully soon, because she is such a big draw for these events, especially in the early rounds as she’s looking to get back to top form and top fitness.”
Raducanu’s next scheduled tournament is the Italian Open, which begins on May 5.
