Jack Draper Mundur dari Wimbledon 2026 karena Cedera Lengan, Kritik Jadwal Padat Tur

Jack Draper, petenis putra Inggris, secara resmi mengundurkan diri dari Wimbledon 2026 hanya 24 jam sebelum laga babak pertama yang dijadwalkan berlangsung pada Selasa (29/6/2026). Cedera lengan berkepanjangan yang dialaminya memaksa Draper batal menghadapi unggulan keenam asal Amerika Serikat, Taylor Fritz, di Lapangan Tengah. Keputusan ini menjadi pukulan kedua bagi publik tuan rumah setelah Emma Raducanu juga mundur sehari sebelumnya akibat patah tulang stres di kaki kanannya.

"There have been a lot of painful moments in the last 12 months, but this one is definitely the absolute worst," ujar Draper, yang kini berusia 24 tahun.

Sebelum memutuskan mundur, Draper sempat berbicara kepada media di Wimbledon pada hari Minggu. Ia mengungkapkan bahwa cedera yang dialaminya sangat kompleks dan sulit diprediksi. "The nature of my injuries, especially the one I had after Wimbledon last year, is extremely complicated. These are the kind of injuries where you're not sure when you can push and when you shouldn't. I play a very aggressive sport, where sometimes you have to go out on the court dealing with some discomfort. Sometimes it's too much, sometimes it's not. I rely on the people around me, and I wouldn't be competing if there was a possibility that everything would go much worse, obviously," kata Draper.

Draper, yang kini didampingi Andy Murray dalam tim kepelatihannya, merefleksikan masa-masa sulit saat peringkat dunianya merosot tajam ke posisi 131 ATP setelah sempat menduduki peringkat empat dunia tahun lalu. "It's very difficult. When I was younger, I had several setbacks, but I was able to bounce back and had a couple of years with hardly any. I made huge progress. Last year I came here as the 4 in the world, I felt amazing, looking forward to what was to come. I felt that I was building a lot of confidence in my tennis, my body, and my mind. Then you go through something that makes you hit the brakes, and it happens when you least expect it," tuturnya.

Meski demikian, Draper menegaskan dedikasinya untuk membangun kembali kariernya dari awal. "I suppose now you have to look at it from the present, look at the positive side of everything: I have to rebuild myself and practically start over. I feel like my tennis hasn't gone anywhere: I haven't lacked dedication a single day during my recovery, and now I'm in a good place. I still believe, even after everything, that I am competing at a very high level. I am very eager to return to the top," ujarnya.

Mengenai kondisi fisiknya, Draper mengaku kekuatan dan pergerakannya sudah dalam kondisi baik meski belum sempurna. "I would say that my power, when competing, is in a very good place. I'm moving great. Still far from perfect, but I'm getting closer. It has been a very long process that has demanded a lot from me mentally, always thinking about coming back, time and again. At the same time, I feel that I can compete at a high level and challenge the best. I remember there was a stage, earlier this year, where I committed to many things. I started using natural gut strings, made changes in different areas of my game, barely trained... now I'm in a position where I have that load and volume in my body and can go out there and focus solely on competing," katanya.

Ia juga menyoroti bagaimana tubuhnya tidak mampu menahan beban latihan berat saat mencoba mengejar level petenis papan atas seperti Carlos Alcaraz dan Jannik Sinner. "I think my arm injury is something I couldn't anticipate. It was bad luck. With muscles, it's more about workload, just like with bones. We are in a sport where we compete all the time, train all the time, to improve our tennis. Last year I did great at the Masters 1000, trying to develop my tennis to get closer to players like Alcaraz and Sinner, who play at an incredibly high level. Simply, my body broke down," ujarnya.

Draper juga mengkritik jadwal padat turnamen Masters 1000 berdurasi 12 hari yang dinilainya memicu gelombang cedera bahu, lengan, dan pergelangan tangan pada pemain muda seperti Lorenzo Musetti dan Arthur Fils. "I think it's pretty worrying the state of men's tennis, especially right now. The amount of injuries, especially young players. When I look at the draws for the weeks when I was out, everything is shoulder, arm, wrist. I think definitely the way athletes are getting better and hitting the ball harder and moving better... it's my opinion they need to really take a close look at what we're doing on tour," katanya.

Petenis kidal tersebut menambahkan bahwa pihak penyelenggara turnamen akan menanggung kerugian besar jika format kompetisi tidak segera diubah. "Definitely the state of the Masters 1000s, the 12-day events. I was privy to those conversations when I was a top-10 player. Now I'm not. I don't care as much about what I say. I think the tournaments are going to suffer a lot if not much changes," ujarnya.

Di sisi lain, hari pertama turnamen tetap berlangsung meriah di All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club dengan kehadiran sejumlah tokoh di Royal Box Lapangan Tengah, termasuk David Beckham beserta ibunya Sandra, Mary Berry, Mark Rylance, dan Ronan Keating.