Jack Draper has confirmed his withdrawal from the French Open 2026 on social media

Jack Draper has confirmed he will not feature in the upcoming French Open as the Brit’s torrid 2026 rolls on. Draper had made his return to the court following an injury setback earlier this year, but was forced to sit out the ongoing Madrid Open with a knee complaint.

The British number two also announced he would skip the Italian Open in Rome shortly after Madrid, and had been holding out hope of getting back to full fitness in time for Roland-Garros. However, the 24-year-old took to social media to confirm his clay season is now over entirely, raising fresh concerns over his fitness ahead of Wimbledon later this summer.

Posting on social media, the 2025 Indian Wells champion said: “My knee is on the mend and I’ve started back hitting balls but unfortunately I have been advised not to play Roland Garros. As gutting as it is to miss another slam, the advice is not to rush straight back into playing five set tennis on clay.

READ MORE: Aryna Sabalenka reacts to Madrid Open exit as tennis star says she is ‘proud’READ MORE: Morgan Riddle drops telling Taylor Fritz split hint in social media post

“Off the back of the arm injury I sustained last year, I’ve been restricted with my training and by giving myself the time to heal and build, I can be the player I want to be out there once again. See you soon !”

Britain’s second-ranked player is hoping to make his comeback during the grass court season, potentially at Stuttgart, where he is a former champion.

It is understood that risking his fitness on clay, particularly over best-of-five sets, simply wasn’t worth it.

Draper can now make the most of a training block before transitioning to grass.

Draper managed just a single outing on clay in 2026, with the world No.28 forced to retire injured from his first-round clash against Tomas Martin Etcheverry at the Barcelona Open.

That match was only his fourth ATP tournament appearance since the 2025 US Open, having withdrawn from the Grand Slam due to an arm injury.

This latest leg problem is yet another instance of Draper’s body letting him down at a critical point in the tennis calendar, and will mark the first Grand Slam he has missed since Wimbledon in 2023.

Since turning professional, Draper has struggled to string together a consistent run of good health, with the second half of 2024 being a rare exception.

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The potential for pitfalls was immense but the king has pulled off a balancing act, being friendly and respectful to his host while at the same time gently pointing out some brutal truths.

It was very brave to give a little history lesson to a president who likes to govern by decree about how executive power “subject to checks and balances” was enshrined in both UK and US law thanks to the Magna Carta.

Charles, in his plummy accent, spoke up for Nato, for Ukraine, for the Royal Navy, for Great Britain in two crafted speeches delivered deftly with humour. He even obliquely referred to the victims of the Epstein scandal.

Britain has been bruised and belittled by Mr Trump, by his wars, his tariffs and his belligerence, but the king has given him a gentle lesson in  statesmanship and civility.

Of course, Charles’ position as head of state is easy – he doesn’t, unlike the prime minister, have to make real decisions, like whether Britain should have joined a war that was unwise, to say the least. But this was one in the eye for those who wanted the visit called off.

The president lapped it all up, breaking protocol by touching the royal knee and by giving away the king’s thoughts expressed in a private conversation – “Charles agrees with me, even more than I do”, said Mr Trump in a marvellous mangling of the English language.

Whether the president was actually listening and taking it in only time will  tell – he may just have been topping up his tan by basking in the golden glow of the royal pageantry.

Manchester council said the venue’s licence has been temporarily suspended, pending a full review.

Staff at a Gorton pub will be questioned by police who believe a ‘deliberate attempt to hinder a serious ongoing investigation’ was made by ‘removing’ CCTV footage.

Greater Manchester Police visited The Angel, at 37 Wellington Street in Gorton, multiple times in early April to ask for CCTV recordings as they investigated a ‘suspected kidnapping’ in the area, council licensing papers say.

Each time officers visited they were unable to download the footage, according to a report published on Manchester council’s website. The report said the CCTV system used by the pub was later changed.

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GMP believe there was a ‘deliberate attempt to hinder a serious ongoing investigation by removing or destroying CCTV footage’, documents add. The pub’s premises licence has been temporarily suspended by Manchester council pending a full review.

It comes after police raised concerns ‘further crime will occur and place customers in danger’ and over ‘concerns in relation to the serious crime at the premises’.

The pub has not responded to the Local Democracy Service/Manchester Evening News following a request for comment. Details were published in a report on the council’s website for a licensing hearing on April 27.

According to town hall papers, GMP visited the pub on April 12 to speak to staff about downloading the CCTV footage for an investigation into a suspected kidnapping in the area.

The report reads: “The officers spoke with the manager at the premises, who was unable to assist the officers in downloading footage but did permit them to record some of the relevant footage from the screen using a mobile device.”

Another visit was arranged the next day from an imaging support officer, the report added. The officer was told the pub ‘did not have the password’ for the CCTV hard drive system, documents say.

Police noted during the visit the CCTV system was a ‘16-channel Maxxone DVR’ that appeared to be in ‘full’ working order, it was said.

A third visit was made on April 14 when the imaging support officer was ‘refused access to the CCTV system’ despite explaining the ‘the very serious nature of the investigation’, documents say.

During a fourth visit on April 21, officers found ‘the CCTV system was now a different model (a 4-channel Swann system) from the original one and that the earliest available footage was from 14th April 2026, after the first two CCTV requests’, the report says.

The report adds: “The original CCTV system has not been provided and its whereabouts are unknown.

‘As a result of these extensive CCTV enquiries and a belief that the management at the premises have made a deliberate attempt to hinder a serious ongoing investigation by removing or destroying CCTV footage, a further crime for perverting the course of justice has been recorded and is now also being investigated.

“In due course, management and staff from The Angel will be questioned about this offence. GMP now has no confidence in the management of the premises or the designated premises supervisor to promote the licensing objectives, we believe there has been a deliberate attempt by staff at The Angel to hinder a police investigation and that staff are now involved in serious crime.”

GMP declined to comment.

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Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk will submit an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over his four-year ban for a failed drugs test.

The 25-year-old was charged with anti-doping rule violations by the Football Association in June last year after a sample taken in 2024 produced an adverse finding for the prohibited substance meldonium, which can increase respiratory capacity and stamina.

Mudryk said that the failed drugs test came as a ‘complete shock’ as he had never knowingly used a banned substance.

The Ukraine international, who Chelsea signed in an £89 million deal from Shakhtar Donetsk in January 2023, has not played for Chelsea since November 2024.

CAS has confirmed it has received an appeal by Mudryk against the FA’s ruling, filed on February 25, 2026.

The statement from CAs added: ‘The parties are currently exchanging written submissions, and a hearing is yet to be scheduled.’

The FA has never disclosed details of the case or confirmed the length of Mudryk’s suspension.

Mudryk has been aiming to return to football and has been training individually with the help of a private coach at non-league side Uxbridge FC.

Speaking this week, Shakhtar Donetsk CEO, Serhii Palkin, backed Mudryk to return and revealed the Ukranian side stand to lose €30m (£26m) if the winger is sidelined.

‘We have €30 million [of] bonuses in his contract and if he is not playing, if Chelsea [are] not reaching results, we are losing €30m. That’s a big financial impact for us,’ Palkin said.

‘Therefore, everybody believes that this story will finish as soon as possible with positive results and Mudryk will return to playing. Otherwise, we will be in a position to lose €30m.

‘I know Mudryk as a player and a person. I believe he will return and he will start playing. I know this because I’ve never met this kind of guy before in my life. He’s a very hard worker. And he will prove he’s in a position to play and bring results to team.

‘But as I understand at this moment, everybody is waiting for the court’s decision, and we don’t have any information about when this will take place and when the final decision will be issued. Therefore, everybody is waiting for information.’

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The future of Shakespeare may well lie beyond the English language. That was the striking message I took away from a talk by translation studies scholar Professor Susan Bassnett at the British Shakespeare Conference in Hull in 2016.

Her point was simple but powerful: Shakespeare’s works are likely to survive and flourish not only in English, but through translation, adaptation and reinvention across the world. Inspired by this, I asked six of my colleagues around the globe to share some Shakespeare adaptations in other languages that you might enjoy.

1. Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013)

Hindi, based on Romeo and Juliet

Ram‑Leela is as heady a mix as Shakespeare’s own play, in equal parts comic and tragic, tender and flamboyant. Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali relocates the action of Verona to an Indian town riven by two criminal clans: Rajadis and Sanedas. Violence saturates daily life. Bullets spill from spice jars and a Rajadi child urinating on Saneda territory ignites a vicious brawl.

In such a world, can love bring peace? The leads’ scorching chemistry makes us hope. My students practically swooned during a screening. At the end, soulful lyrics such as “Tera naam ishq / Mera naam ishq” (“Your name is love / My name is love”) frame the film’s Romeo and Juliet – Ram and Leela – through love rather than their hate-fuelled lineage.

The film also gives depth to its Lady Capulet and nurse figures, while Leela is sensual, witty and brave. Juliet exactly as Shakespeare imagined her.

Varsha Panjwani teaches at New York University, London, and is the creator and host of the podcast Women and Shakespeare.

2. Otel·lo (2012)

Catalan, based on Othello

An award-winning work of Catalan cinema, Otel·lo transposes Shakespeare’s play to a contemporary film studio. Such a meta-narrative approach feels in line with the play’s focus on the enticing power of storytelling – famously embodied in the character of Iago as its arch-villain.

Blending documentary, mockumentary and thriller aesthetics, the film turns Iago into an unscrupulous filmmaker willing to cross every boundary in the name of art. With his role played by the actual director of the film (Hammudi Al-Rahmoun Font), the adaptation skilfully integrates form and content. We are, like Othello, manipulated into thinking that the fiction he has created is reality.

The film asks: To what extent are the images we absorb real? What purpose do they serve? And how do they affect our views on gendered and racialised minorities?

Inma Sánchez García is a lecturer in European languages and culture at the University of Edinburgh.

3. Throne of Blood (1957)

Japanese, based on Macbeth

The genius of Throne of Blood is that despite being set in 16th century Japan and changing almost everything about the original, it is immediately recognisable as the Scottish play. It’s considered by many to be the greatest Shakespeare film ever made.

The mist-swirled locations, the screeching flute and ominous drumbeats, the spooky old lady in the forest, and above all the samurai, barking orders and getting lost on their horses, can mean only that “Macbeth doth come”. The final scene when Washizu’s (Macbeth’s) soldiers turn on him with a hail of arrows may even represent an improvement on Shakespeare. Meanwhile his poker-faced lady clearly wears the kimono-trousers in their marriage.

Daniel Gallimore is a professor of literature and linguistics at Kwansei Gakuin University

4. Bhrantibilas (1963)

Bengali, based on Comedy of Errors

If you asked me to pick a favourite Shakespeare film, I’d probably surprise people by saying Bhrantibilas. It’s one of the earliest filmed Shakespeare adaptations in Indian cinema. It was also the inspiration for the globally popular film Angoor (1982).

What I love about it is how confidently it relocates Shakespeare’s farce into a Bengali urban world without ever feeling like a dutiful “literary” exercise. A huge part of its lasting appeal is Bengali superstar Uttam Kumar. It’s pure pleasure watching him play the twin roles – Antipholus of Syracuse and Antipholus of Ephesus, identical twins separated at birth, whose accidental reunion causes chaos. His comic timing is razor-sharp, and there’s also an ease and charm that makes the confusion feel human, never mechanical.

Decades on, audiences still return to Bhrantibilas, often knowing every gag by heart, which says a lot about its cultural afterlife. For me, it’s a perfect example of how Shakespeare survives not through reverence but through reinvention – absorbed into popular cinema and kept alive by star power, humour and sheer re-watchability.

Koel Chatterjee is a lecturer in English at Regent College, and the creator and host of The Shakespop Podcast and The Shakesfic Podcast.

5. Rahm (2016)

Urdu, based on Measure for Measure

Measure for Measure has long been regarded as a “problem play”. Disfavoured among Shakespeare’s works for centuries, it hit stages again in the 20th-century and reached new audiences through its resonances with the #MeToo movement.

A local leader tells a devout woman that if she loses her virginity to him, he will spare her imprisoned brother’s life. This film shifts the action from early modern, Catholic Vienna to an ambiguous period in Islamic Lahore. Moderate and extremist versions of faith contend, against the backdrop of the city. This film’s billing as a thriller, and status as the only big screen version of the play, help raise it from obscurity.

Sarah Olive is a senior lecturer in English literature at Aston University.

6. To The Marriage of True Minds (2010)

Arabic, based on Sonnet 116

This freely available short film expands on one of Shakespeare’s shortest forms: the sonnet. It riffs on Sonnet 116, heard at countless weddings: “Let me not to the marriage of true minds … admit impediments.” Here, its Arabic translation provides both the back story to – and future hope for – an asylum-seeking couple in a same-sex relationship, Falah (Amir Boutrous) and Hayder (Waleed Elgadi).

The story of their journey by sea, and shots of a tossed-about paper boat reference the poem’s sea-voyage imagery. Over 12 tense minutes, we hold our breath to see whether the Iraqi poet and his childhood beloved will overcome the impediments of religious conservatism, on one shore, and an apparently hostile asylum system on the other.

Sarah Olive is a senior lecturer in English literature at Aston University.

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City of York Council planning officers refused the application to change the use of a house in Compton Street, Clifton, so part of it could be rented out to tourists.

Applicants stated the changes would bring benefits to businesses in the area and the existing character and appearance of the street would be preserved.

But a neighbour and Labour Clifton ward councillor Danny Myers objected claiming approving another holiday let on top of the 13 already nearby would further deplete the supply of housing.

Council planning officers ruled the mixed residential and holiday let use could result in a material harm to nearby residents due to the comings and goings of a high turnover of guests.

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Plans for the change of use stated the property would be managed for short stays but the owners were also applying for permission to rent it out for longer periods.

They added clear rules would be in place for guests including not being allowed to hold parties or events and being required to check in and out by certain times.

Plans stated: “The reuse of an existing building for visitor accommodation supports sustainable tourism and the efficient use of existing housing.

“The use will be carefully managed to protect neighbouring amenity.”

31 Compton Street, in Clifton, York (Image: Google Maps)

But the neighbouring objector claimed adding more holiday lets to the area would erode its community atmosphere.

A council report on the objection stated: “There are concerns that the high turnover of guests will lead to increased noise, late-night disturbances, and disruption of the quiet nature of these residential streets.”

Clifton’s Cllr Myers said he was concerned about how the owners would manage potential antisocial behaviour and noise.

The ward councillor said: “In my experience, these assurances have never proven fruitful, details are not usually provided to local residents, and instances of anti-social behaviour by nuisance holidaymakers are put up with by residents and then have to be followed up after they have occurred.”

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In the last of our series on environmental issues and the Wales election campaign, we look particularly at countryside policies of two parties that are new contenders for seats in the Senedd.

The elections to Wales’s parliament, the Senedd, on May 7 are set to be the most unpredictable since the creation of the devolved government in 1999. With current polling indicating close contests in many constituencies, rural voters could make a critical difference to the final result.

Issues such as farming support, windfarms, pylons and changes to rural healthcare services are contentious, but they form part of a larger question about the future of rural Wales. Interestingly, the two parties projected to win seats in the Senedd through election for the first time – Reform UK and the Green party (Reform UK has two seats in the outgoing Senedd through defections) – represent contrasting visions of the Welsh countryside.

Reform’s rural vision

Reform UK has directly targeted discontented rural voters. With a cover image showing daffodil-covered green hills, Reform’s manifesto says it will “back Welsh farmers”. It promises “agriculture will be treated as a strategic national asset”.

Specific policies include: reforming the new post-Brexit Sustainable Farming Scheme to emphasise food production, funding for young farmers’ clubs, scrapping net zero targets and banning new onshore wind farms and solar arrays, reducing environmental regulations and protecting lawful game bird release. It also plans to “streamline planning regulations” and cut back on “red tape”.

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Reform is competing with the Conservatives for the voters that this version of rural Wales appeals to. Although the Conservative manifesto is less dramatic in tone, especially on net zero, it also plans to scrap the Sustainable Farming Scheme and introduce a moratorium on industrial scale wind and solar power stations.

A Green vision

The strongest prospects for the Green party are in urban constituencies. However, their platform contains policies that would have significant implications for rural Wales. They include a Land Reform Act, making it easier for communities to buy land, a “Welsh Right to Roam” offering “responsible access to the countryside”, a national rewilding strategy and commitments to a Sustainable Farming Scheme that rewards “nature-friendly farming” and renewable energy targets.

These represent a very different vision for the Welsh countryside to Reform. But they also reflect an alternative, almost counter culture, strand of Welsh rural society that has welcomed people who moved to rural areas in search of a new way of life since the 1960s and pioneered organic farming and low impact development.

There are currently Green councillors in rural Monmouthshire and Powys. Some projections suggest the party could win two or three Senedd seats in significantly rural constituencies.

If the Greens achieve more than 10% of the vote nationally, they are likely to do so by taking votes from Plaid Cymru, including in rural areas.

Plaid Cymru needs both rural and urban seats to become the biggest party. Its manifesto contains a significant section on rural policies, but with less prominence than Reform UK’s. Plaid’s rural policies broadly share the pro-environmental approach of the Greens, but the influence of conservative rural voters in its heartlands is evident in careful positioning on farming, windfarms and pylons, as well as the absence of mentions of rewilding.

On rural and environmental issues the Greens are more aligned with Labour, while Plaid Cymru are closer to the Liberal Democrats.

Politics in rural Wales

Wales is sometimes described as predominantly rural, but while 80% of the land is countryside, most people live in the towns and cities. Nevertheless, around a third of Wales’s population lives close to the countryside, in largely rural local authorities.

Over the last 25 years rural Wales has experienced substantial social and economic restructuring, including declining work in farming and manufacturing, along with many young people leaving to find jobs. These areas face challenges from low wages, sparse infrastructure, precarious public services and competing visions for land use.

Three issues in particular have attracted attention. First, plans for the Sustainable Farming Scheme (the Welsh government plans for agriculture subsidies to replace EU funding) provoked protests by Welsh farmers in 2024, especially over proposed requirements for 10% of farmland to be planted with trees. The later was subsequently withdrawn.

Second, there’s been opposition to new windfarm developments and pylon lines. Rewilding projects have also been controversial. Third, downgrading of services at hospitals serving rural areas and closure of village schools, have sparked local campaigns.

Public anger over these and other issues has often been directed at Welsh Labour, the governing party in Wales since 1999, with other parties trying to cast it as urban focused.

Labour did win rural constituencies in the 2024 UK general election, and current First Minister Eluned Morgan has a long-standing interest in rural affairs, outlining a plan for rural Wales in 2017. The Labour manifesto promises to “increase rural Wales’ skills and productivity” and to promote “food, farming and forestry”.

The traditional stronghold of nationalist Plaid Cymru is in the rural north and west Wales. While the Conservatives’ strongest support is in rural districts close to the English border and in parts of south Wales. The most enduring areas of support for the Welsh Liberal Democrats are in rural mid Wales.

Results to watch for

A few key results will provide an indication of the political temperature in rural Wales:

• Whether Plaid Cymru or Reform UK get most votes in Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd, Gwynedd Maldwyn and Sir Gaerfyrddin

• Whether the Greens win a seat in Ceredigion Penfro, Gwynedd Maldwyn, or Sir Fynwy Torfaen

• Whether the Conservatives get seats in Bangor Conwy Môn, Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd and Ceredigion Penfro, and the Liberal Democrats retain their seat in Brychceiniog Tawe

• Whether Labour’s Eluned Morgan can hold on to her seat in Ceredigion Penfro.

If, as seems likely, no party has a majority, rural issues will play an important role in coalition discussions. A shared rural vision could assist agreement between Reform UK and the Conservatives; while negotiations between Plaid Cymru, Labour or the Greens will need to resolve differences in rural and environmental policies. This may have profound consequences for the future of rural Wales.