Jack Draper ruled OUT of US Open as former British No 1 continues to tackle problematic bone bruising injury in his arm which forced him to miss Wimbledon

Jack Draper will miss the US Open in the latest blow to the former world number four.

Draper is continuing to battle a bone bruise in his dominant left arm and, after two dispiriting matches in the US, he has concluded he needs more time to recover.

The news, which comes only a couple of hours after world number one Jannik Sinner announced he would miss the tournament with a knee injury, means Draper will not have played in a single grand slam this year.

It has been a disastrous last 12 months for the 24-year-old, who was ranked in the world’s top five last summer but is now down at 143.

His arm problems forced him out after Wimbledon last year for seven months, aside from a US Open appearance where he pulled out ahead of the second round.

Draper then appeared to be back on track, only for a knee problem to surface in the spring and force him out of the French Open.

He made another return at Eastbourne ahead of Wimbledon, but more pain in his arm prompted him to make the difficult decision to miss his home grand slam and things have only gone downhill since.

Draper finally returned to action in Canada earlier this month but broke down in tears during the third set of a defeat by France’s Terence Atmane before losing the final five games to young Spaniard Martin Landaluce in Cincinnati last week.

Speaking to the Guardian after that match, Draper said: ‘It’s a difficult place to be right now. It’s got to a point with me where it’s taken probably one of my biggest qualities, my fighting spirit.’

The former US Open semi-finalist has changed his racket and strings in an effort to recover from the injury, while he continues to tweak his service motion, but so far the alterations have not taken the pain away.

‘I think that’s the toughest part,’ he said. ‘It’s like there are no right answers. You have to figure it out. It’s not as simple as taking time off and it’s going to go because it doesn’t. I’ve tried it.’

Draper’s low ranking meant he would have had to go through qualifying in New York barring a late wild card, but he joins Sinner and Emma Raducanu in sitting out the tournament.

Arthur Fery’s run to the Wimbledon semi-finals has been an outstanding bright spot in what has been a disappointing season for British tennis, with Draper and Raducanu again blighted by injury.

One bit of positive news this week has been the return to court at the National Tennis Centre in London of Sonay Kartal, who has been sidelined since March with a back injury and will also sit out the US Open.

Cameron Norrie, who has overtaken Fery to reclaim the British number one spot, will be the only seeded British player in singles in New York, with Fery, Katie Boulter and Jan Choinski also securing direct entry.