Big-name absentees dominate build-up to French Open
By Eleanor Crooks, Press Association Tennis Correspondent, Paris
Attention heading into the French Open is as much on who is not in Paris as who will take to the clay courts at Roland Garros.
Carlos Alcaraz is the biggest name absentee having been ruled out of the majority of the clay season and Wimbledon with a wrist injury.
It has also been a disappointing campaign so far for British players, with injuries and illness affecting a number of leading names.
Jack Draper’s ranking will drop outside the top 100 after his long absence with bone bruising in his arm was followed by a knee problem that is keeping him away from Roland Garros.
Sonay Kartal also remains sidelined by a back injury, while Emma Raducanu has just returned from two-and-a-half months out with a post-viral illness and Jacob Fearnley and Fran Jones have also spent time away from the court.
Jones suffered a leg injury at the Australian Open and has recently been battling to recover fully from a concussion sustained in a gym accident in the USA, for which she is taking legal action.
“I think for anyone to be sat in a room with headaches and concussion for a couple of weeks is always going to be quite a challenging experience and one that I wouldn’t really wish on anyone,” she said.
Jones went into the Australian Open ranked 71 but is now down at 105 and had to rely on other players withdrawing to avoid going through qualifying here.
“You see a ranking plummeting, you can’t really do anything about it,” she said. “You feel useless.
“Trying to fight for a place at Roland Garros when you start the year closer to the top 50 than you do the top 100 is not a position I expected to be in. It’s felt like two steps forward, two steps back.”
The 25-year-old believes the small number of leading British players compared to other prominent nations means absences are noticed more, blaming “bad luck” for the rash of issues this year.
Draper’s continued problems are the biggest concern for the British game given the 24-year-old’s clear potential to be one of the world’s best players as well as his history of injuries to different parts of his body.
Former world number one John McEnroe, who is part of TNT Sports’ coverage of the French Open, said: “It was the first time at Wimbledon last year when I said Jack Draper has the chance to win this tournament.
“He was the third or fourth favourite to win the whole thing. Things are just going along beautifully. So it’s pretty depressing, actually. Carlos, obviously, that’s been horrific.
“But what’s happened to Jack, it’s equally depressing for him. He’s 74 in the world. That’s before the French points drop off. And that pretty much is rock bottom. It’s a total disaster in a way.”
Draper is planning to return for the grass-court season and will have a new coach in tow in Andy Murray.
Varying factors are cited by players for the number of injuries in tennis, including the demanding calendar, scheduling, court speed and balls.
Stephen Smith, a former physio with Leinster rugby who founded sports science and data company Kitman Labs, thinks tennis could be doing more to try to alleviate the problem.
He told the Press Association: “We believe strongly from what we’ve seen across other sports that the opportunity is there to use better data, better planning, greater alignment across the board to help players stay healthier, help them perform more consistently, to help elevate the quality of competitions and to extend careers.”
