Jack Draper will not play at this year’s French Open as he continues to struggle with a knee injury.
Draper, the British No2, has had to withdraw from the Madrid Masters and the Rome Open as a result of the problem, which he suffered in Barcelona.
The 24-year-old, seeded eighth in Catalonia, was forced to hand Tomas Etcheverry a walkover in the opening round with the score at a set all and the Argentine 4-1 up in the decider.
The issue is a tendon in his right knee, and represents another setback in the young Briton’s developing career.
"My knee is on the mend and I’ve started back hitting balls but unfortunately I have been advised not to play Roland Garros," Draper wrote on Instagram.
"As gutting as it is to miss another Slam, the advice is not to rush straight back into playing five set tennis on clay.
"Off the back of the arm injury, 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..
He was plagued with an arm injury following last year’s Wimbledon - where he was stunned in the second round by Marin Cilic - and he only returned for the revamped mixed doubles tournament at the US Open, where he partnered Jessica Pegula.
He played his first round of singles at Flushing Meadows, earning a walkover victory against Sebastian Baez, before he pulled out ahead of his second-round encounter with the Belgian Zizou Bergs.
He returned to the ATP Tour in February, reaching only the second round in Dubai - where he was the fourth seed - before nearing his best tennis back at Indian Wells, where he had won his first Masters 1000 title last year.
He defeated Novak Djokovic en route to the quarter-finals, where he was beaten by Daniil Medvedev, and he was then stunned in the opening round of the Miami Open by Reilly Opelka.
Draper is currently the world No28 but will fall out of the top 50 after the conclusion of the Madrid Masters.
As such, he will sit out the rest of the clay-court swing, and turn his focus to the grass-court season.
The first tournament on the surface could be Stuttgart, where he lifted the trophy two years previously, at the start of June, before Queen’s Club a week later.
