Jack Draper pledges to 'work my way out' of injury problems after Barcelona retirement

[p]The 24-year-old Briton, who returned to ‌action in February after six months out due ‌to a niggling left arm injury, pulled up ‌while [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/draper-j-SWxNhpmK/etcheverry-t-m-AXL5qpKa/?mid=2wLYGlFD"]trailing 1-4[/a] in the deciding set of his meeting with Argentine [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/etcheverry-tomas-martin/AXL5qpKa/"]Etcheverry[/a] to cast doubts on ‌his fitness for the clay season.[/p][p][b]"Sad ⁠to retire in ‌Barcelona. I've tried hard these last months to stay positive ​and give my all,"[/b] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/draper-jack/SWxNhpmK/"]Draper[/a], who tried to soldier on with taping below ​his right knee, said in a post on social media.[/p][p][b]"It will take time but I will ⁠work my ​way out of this. Thank you for all the support throughout this process."[/b][/p][embed guid="6ef3f3e4-5798-4de0-bd46-19569c360803" url="https://x.com/TheTennisLetter/status/2043703099186204935" social-type="twitter" /][p]After an early exit in Dubai in February, Draper shook off the cobwebs ‌to beat 24-times Grand Slam champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/djokovic-novak/AZg49Et9/"]Novak Djokovic[/a] at Indian Wells but his title defence in the Californian desert ended in the quarter-finals against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/medvedev-daniil/O8qG0Nhb/"]Daniil Medvedev[/a].[/p][p]The left-hander then suffered another early defeat in Miami and pulled out of Monte Carlo to protect his arm, but hoped to kick-start his campaign in Barcelona ahead of ‌the French Open that will begin on ​May 24.[/p][p][b]"I like how he plays, he's a ‌great fighter,"[/b] Etcheverry said of the former world number four, who has now slipped to 28th in the rankings.[/p][p]"Hopefully he can recover as soon as he can to get ⁠back on tour, ⁠because the tour likes ‌him."[/p]