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Jack Draper rued the backlash received by Jannik Sinner after his Davis Cup withdrawal. The two-time champions will not represent his country, Italy, this year at the ITF event, as he hopes to wrap his season early.
A few days ago, Sinner announced his decision to pull out from the Davis Cup, scheduled for later in November. The World No.2, who led Italy to titles in 2023 and 2024, will not defend the crown this year.
Sinner cited the need for rest following a long but successful season and expressed his intention to kick off his 2026 pre-season early to work toward reclaiming the World No.1 ranking. However, the decision has drawn criticism in Italy.
One consumer rights group suggested his national honors to be revoked, while a former Italian tennis legend described the move as a "slap in the face" to Italian tennis. While speaking to The Athletic's The Tennis Podcast, World No. 11 Jack Draper spoke about the problem.
"He's [Jannik Sinner's] probably thinking, 'I've won Davis Cup twice. This year I've had a long year, I've had to deal with a lot of [things], I've done well in the Grand Slams, and I want to do a better pre-season, I want to improve as a player, I want to refresh,'" Draper stated.
"And he and his team have clearly made that decision just to get better and become a better player, and it's tough to see when someone gets criticised for something like that because it's like they clearly don't understand the sport and how it is. So I'm really hoping that the ITF really look into the Davis Cup." he added.
Draper has faced the demands of the ATP Tour firsthand. He suffered a serious arm injury that led him to end his 2025 season early in September.
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