Jack Draper’s deflated ranking will leave him waiting for a wildcard to play in the US Open and former British No 1 Greg Rusedski believes he has earned the right be give a chance to play in the final Grand Slam of the year.

Draper reached the semi-finals of the US Open in 2024 and rose to No 4 in the world as he won the Indian Wells Masters t nitle the following year, but his ambitions have been severely hampered by injuries over the last 12 months.

The Brit made a comeback at Indian Wells in March and impressed with a run to the quarter-finals, before he was sidelined again by a knee injury.

He was then forced to pull out of Wimbledon due a recurrence of his arm injury after he reached the semi-finals of the Eastbourne Open.

Draper is now preparing for another comeback attempt as he plays in the ATP 500 event in Washington, with his coach Andy Murray extending his partnership that was due to end after Wimbledon.

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Draper’s ranking does not gain him entry into Grand Slam events and he may have to enter qualifying unless new USTA chief Craig Tiley and his committee give him a prized wildcard for the US Open.

Those wildcards are primarily reserved for youthful US players, but Rusedski believes Tiley will see the benefit of handing Draper a ticket to play at Flushing Meadows.

“Craig is a smart man and you need to keep the top players happy,” said Rusedski, in an extract of the latest episode of his podcast published exclusively on Tennis365.

“If Jack is healthy with Andy Murray, that still creates a lot of buzz in America if you have that relationship in New York.

“So if the form’s there, yes, he should get a wildcard. If the form isn’t there, then it’s a no. But I’m on the optimistic version that the form’s gonna happen and we’re gonna find out this week in Washington where he’s at.

“Don’t forget, Jack was the guy everybody was talking about to mix it up with (Carlos) Alcaraz, (Jannik) Sinner and (Novak) Djokovic and he was on the cusp of being in there.

“He won Indian Wells and reached the finals in Madrid. And then he’s had a horrid year where he hasn’t been able to play. So the USTA will look at it because what they gotta remember is if Jack’s healthy, he’s one of the biggest names in tennis.

“He’s too big of a talent not to be out there. Let’s see how many weeks he can go through and hopefully he runs all the way through US Open and we don’t have to talk about injuries anymore.”

Rusedski also backed Murray to add a new dimension to Draper’s game, as he welcomed the extension of their player-coach partnership.

“I heard the rumour was Andy’s probably gonna do ten or twelve weeks with him, even though it was only supposed to be a trial until the end of Wimbledon,” he added.

“Andy brings great experience. He’s won majors, he’s come back from injuries. He’s our best British tennis player in the open era by far. So it’s great to see Andy there with him trying to guide him through this difficult period.

“Jack looks very good in practice. It’s a question of whether the pop is there on the serve? Is he going to be able to sustain his fitness?

“So fingers crossed that he can start winning some matches. Health is your wealth and if he’s healthy, the combination with Murray could work out really well.

“Long term, if Andy is not there for every event, they’re probably gonna have to bring in a second coach. That’s the reality of it, if Jack ends up being able to be healthy and play back-to-back weeks and play a normal schedule. So fingers crossed for Jack. We need him back. We need him back to his best.”

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