Carlos Alcaraz’s training plans affected after Jack Draper suffers ‘physical mishap’
Jack Draper was due to travel to Spain to train with Carlos Alcaraz during the off-season, but the world No 15 has been forced to change his plans.
The Brit was set to practise with Alcaraz and Flavio Cobolli at Juan Carlos Ferrero’s tennis academy in Villena, Alicante.
However, Draper has cancelled his trip to Spain after suffering a “physical mishap” in his last training session before he was due to leave, according to Marca.
Alcaraz will still be joined by Cobolli, a 22-year-old Italian rising star who ended the 2024 season as the world No 32.
The Spaniard reportedly started his pre-season preparations with physical training on Monday after he returned to Spain following exhibition matches in New York and Charlotte last week.
The four-time Grand Slam winner and world No 3 will start his training with Cobolli on Thursday.
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Draper ended an excellent 2024 campaign ranked 15th after starting the year as the world No 61.
The 22-year-old, who began the year with a runner-up result in Adelaide, downed Matteo Berrettini to secure his maiden title at the Stuttgart Open in June.
Draper then stunned defending champion Carlos Alcaraz at the Queen’s Club Championships to earn the biggest win of his career to date. He went on to record another three wins over top 10 players.
The Brit reached his first Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open, without dropping a set, before losing to world No 1 and eventual winner Jannik Sinner.
Draper won the biggest title of his career at the ATP 500 event in Vienna in October, where he saw off Karen Khachanov in the final.
Following his triumph in Austria, Draper reflected on his development in 2024 and sent a warning to Sinner and Alcaraz.
“I’m really happy with the way I’ve progressed this year,” the world No 15 said in a press conference.
“I’ll focus on next week and then I’m going to look forward to having a bit of time off and probably not thinking about tennis. It has been a long year and it has taken a lot out of me.
“And then I’ll refresh and I’ll go again for next year with even bigger motivation to really shake up those guys at the top of the game – the likes of Sinner and Alcaraz.
“If I can keep on improving physically and keep on getting more and more experience at this higher level against top players then I’m going to give myself a shot to hopefully be competing with those guys. But there’s a lot of work to do.
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