Jack Draper’s difficult season continued as he was dumped out of the first round of the Cincinnati Open at the hands of Martina Landaluce in round one.

The British star has now lost three matches in a row, following his first round defeat at the Canadian Open against Terence Atmane and his exit at the Eastbourne Open to Ugo Humbert.

The star’s injury issues have been well documented, with a reoccurence of his arm bruising keeping him out of Wimbledon earlier this season.

Draper is under illusion about his troubles and he’s suggested the arm injury is the reason why he’s lost some of his spark on the tennis court.

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Speaking to The Guardian, the British star said: “It’s the same as last week, the way I’m usually able to fight for every ball and conduct myself, it’s just missing.

“Obviously, the conditions and all the things that I’m changing is very hard to manage, but I think from just an internal point of view, 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. There’s a level of chronic pain that’s always with you.

“When you’ve got that on your playing arm – this is my life, this is my career, you know? When you’ve got an injury that is tough to come past and tough to understand, there’s many challenges, there’s many obstacles.”

Draper has not received a wildcard for the US Open yet, so he will very likely have to go through qualifying to get into the last Grand Slam of the year.

Qualifying for the Grand Slam takes place at the same time as the US Open Mixed Doubles Challenge, which Draper was set to play alongside Jessica Pegula again.

The pair reached the semi finals of the tournament last year in its inauguration, where they were defeated by Casper Ruud and Iga Swiatek.

Draper is very likely going to pick qualifying for the US Open, which means Pegula will need to scramble to find a partner if she wants to play the tournament again.

It’s unclear if Draper will play a tournament before he embarks on his US Open journey, although there is a chance he could play Winston-Salem, the ATP 250 event which takes place between the 23rd and 29th of August.

The US tournament takes place a week prior to the US Open, so it could be a too short of a turnaround for Draper, who has not played two matches in quick succession for nearly two months.