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<\/p>\nJack Draper is set to return to competitive play at the Barcelona Open.<\/p>\n
Draper, who ranks second among British players, hasn\u2019t played since the Miami Open, where he was beaten 6-7, 6-7 by Reilly Opelka in his opening match.<\/p>\n
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Instead of heading to the Monte Carlo Masters, Draper chose to make his comeback in Spain.<\/p>\n
This will be his first tournament on clay this year, and he\u2019ll start against Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the first round.<\/p>\n
Jack Draper\u2019s clay-court readiness to be tested at the Barcelona Open<\/p>\n
Photo by Clive Brunskill\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Jack Draper is set for a strong opening challenge as he kicks off his clay-court season.<\/p>\n
The Brit faces Tomas Martin Etcheverry, who has been one of the standout performers on clay so far this year.<\/p>\n
Etcheverry, who won the Rio Open and put up a good fight against Carlos Alcaraz in Monte Carlo, has solidified his reputation as a dangerous opponent on this surface.<\/p>\n
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For Draper, it\u2019s an immediate test against someone who knows how to handle himself on clay. It should give a clear indication of where he stands early in the season.<\/p>\n
If he manages to get past Etcheverry and progress to the quarter-finals, he could be up against Alex de Minaur next.<\/p>\n
De Minaur, currently seeded third in Barcelona, has shown his own comfort on clay by reaching the last eight in Monte Carlo earlier this month.<\/p>\n
If Draper gets that far, a semi-final showdown with Carlos Alcaraz could be waiting for him. Facing Alcaraz would be as tough a matchup as it gets for anyone trying to prove themselves on this surface.<\/p>\n
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Jack Draper outlines his plan for the clay-court season<\/p>\n
Jack Draper is set to return at the Barcelona Open, having skipped Monte Carlo, and spoke about his decision and schedule plans ahead of the event.<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old admitted it wasn\u2019t an easy choice to miss Monte Carlo but told ATP Media:<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s very much the plan. The plan is to play Madrid, Rome, French, and go full schedule as much as I can.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ve got enough training, enough miles in the tank to do that now.<\/p>\n
Draper also noted he has no points to defend in Barcelona this year since he didn\u2019t play the tournament in 2025. A strong performance could also help him overtake Cameron Norrie as the British number one again.<\/p>\n
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Read more:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jack Draper is set to return to competitive play at the Barcelona Open. Draper, who ranks second among…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2949,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,1422,710,2138,1421,1424,2137,1426],"class_list":["post-2948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-open","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-clay-court-season","tag-jack-draper","tag-miami-open","tag-monte-carlo-masters","tag-tomas-martin-etcheverry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}