Jack Draper says he took a ‘step back’ from tennis during injury absence

Jack Draper revealed he has barely watched any tennis during his enforced sabbatical.

The British number one made his comeback from a near seven-month injury lay-off with a comfortable Davis Cup victory over Norway’s Viktor Durasovic in Oslo.

The complex “bone bruising” injury in his left arm meant Draper had to take the tough decision to miss last month’s Australian Open as he was not yet ready for five-set matches.

But rather than watch contemporaries Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic in Melbourne, Draper took a step back from the sport.

“In all honesty, in this period. I haven’t really been following it too much,” he said.

“It’s something I put my whole life into and so I knew that when this injury came about, I had to maybe take a step back and not be so intense with it.

“I think that’s helped me off the court and to keep on improving on the court as well, because tennis is a bubble and sometimes you can get kind of distracted, and that it’s all that matters in life.

“Whereas when you have this kind of injury, you have time out and I used it wisely, I think, to try and make sure that when I come back to tennis and my arm is OK, that I’m ready to go all the way again.”

Draper, who has played just one singles match since Wimbledon last year, needed just 59 minutes to wrap up a 6-2 6-2 win and give Great Britain a flying start in the first qualifying round.

It was hard to gauge precisely what Draper’s level is against Durasovic, ranked a lowly 313. However, eight aces, just 10 points dropped on serve and a healthy smattering of forehand winners was certainly an encouraging start.

“It’s been a long, long time since I’ve been able to compete on the match court and today was a great opportunity to do that,” he added.

“Obviously it’s been a difficult time for me, but I’m glad with the way I came back and I’m proud of my performance today.”

British number two Cameron Norrie, fresh from his run to the third round down under, had by far the tougher match against teenager Nicolai Budkov Kjaer, a former Wimbledon juniors champion, in the second singles rubber.

But the 30-year-old ground out a 6-4 6-4 win to put Great Britain 2-0 up going into day two of the first-qualifying round tie.

Leon Smith’s team can take an unassailable 3-0 lead if Wimbledon doubles champions Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash win the opening match on Friday afternoon.