The U-20 World Cup is also known as the “tournament of superstars of tomorrow,” marking their first fork in the development of these young players. They still have the option of choosing their country to play for when they are younger. Your decision locks you in at the senior level. Where should your loyalty lie, asks Samatha Johnson? Which country do you come from, or which country do you come from?
Published On 2 Oct 2025
Jack Draper’s preparations for 2026 have started a lot earlier than he would have wished.
An arm injury has allowed him just one singles match since Wimbledon – and forced him to end his season early after the discomfort proved too much at the US Open in August.
But the 23-year-old world number eight is back in training, and the organisers of a three-day event in London in December are confident he will be fit to play.
Draper is planning to make his comeback at the UTS Grand Final in London, having been offered a wildcard by Patrick Mouratoglou, who is the founder of the quickfire event.
“He was very confident – otherwise he wouldn’t accept to be invited,” Mouratoglou, who coached Serena Williams for a decade, told BBC Sport.
“I’m sure he’s going to play. The only thing you can do is [allow] time for healing. He’s going to take a long time before competing again.
“You can’t play on a bone bruise, because the next stage is a stress fracture and you can’t take the risk to have a stress fracture.
Draper was modelling next summer’s collection for one of his sponsors last week and has been working out regularly at the National Tennis Centre in London this week.
The work is primarily physical at the moment, and when pre-season training begins in earnest later this month, the initial on-court drills are likely to be low in intensity.
The British number one first felt discomfort in his upper left serving arm during the clay court season in the spring, and following a scan after Wimbledon, did not hit any serves for a month.
But the period of rest proved insufficient. He won his first-round match at the US Open, but withdrew before the second, and the opportunity to make his debut at the season ending ATP Finals was gone.
”He’s top 10 and he played half of the year. Just to say how good he is…” Mouratoglou added.
“His only problem for the moment is the injuries: he has been through several injuries already in the past.
“I always thought he was going to be a top player, but for every player that is supposed to become a top player, there are things to solve.
The UTS London Grand Final will be staged at the Copper Box from 5-7 December.
Draper won the event in 2023 and pocketed what was then the biggest pay cheque of his career.
Three-time Grand Slam finalist Casper Ruud will also be in the eight-man field for matches played over four eight-minute quarters.
Jack Draper’s preparations for 2026 have started a lot earlier than he would have wished.
An arm injury has allowed him just one singles match since Wimbledon – and forced him to end his season early after the discomfort proved too much at the US Open in August.
But the 23-year-old world number eight is back in training, and the organisers of a three-day event in London in December are confident he will be fit to play.
Draper is planning to make his comeback at the UTS Grand Final in London, having been offered a wildcard by Patrick Mouratoglou, who is the founder of the quickfire event.
“He was very confident – otherwise he wouldn’t accept to be invited,” Mouratoglou, who coached Serena Williams for a decade, told BBC Sport.
“I’m sure he’s going to play. The only thing you can do is [allow] time for healing. He’s going to take a long time before competing again.
“You can’t play on a bone bruise, because the next stage is a stress fracture and you can’t take the risk to have a stress fracture.
Draper was modelling next summer’s collection for one of his sponsors last week and has been working out regularly at the National Tennis Centre in London this week.
The work is primarily physical at the moment, and when pre-season training begins in earnest later this month, the initial on-court drills are likely to be low in intensity.
The British number one first felt discomfort in his upper left serving arm during the clay court season in the spring, and following a scan after Wimbledon, did not hit any serves for a month.
But the period of rest proved insufficient. He won his first-round match at the US Open, but withdrew before the second, and the opportunity to make his debut at the season ending ATP Finals was gone.
”He’s top 10 and he played half of the year. Just to say how good he is…” Mouratoglou added.
“His only problem for the moment is the injuries: he has been through several injuries already in the past.
“I always thought he was going to be a top player, but for every player that is supposed to become a top player, there are things to solve.
The UTS London Grand Final will be staged at the Copper Box from 5-7 December.
Draper won the event in 2023 and pocketed what was then the biggest pay cheque of his career.
Three-time Grand Slam finalist Casper Ruud will also be in the eight-man field for matches played over four eight-minute quarters.
Jack Draper’s preparations for 2026 have started a lot earlier than he would have wished.
An arm injury has allowed him just one singles match since Wimbledon – and forced him to end his season early after the discomfort proved too much at the US Open in August.
But the 23-year-old world number eight is back in training, and the organisers of a three-day event in London in December are confident he will be fit to play.
Draper is planning to make his comeback at the UTS Grand Final in London, having been offered a wildcard by Patrick Mouratoglou, who is the founder of the quickfire event.
“He was very confident – otherwise he wouldn’t accept to be invited,” Mouratoglou, who coached Serena Williams for a decade, told BBC Sport.
“I’m sure he’s going to play. The only thing you can do is [allow] time for healing. He’s going to take a long time before competing again.
“You can’t play on a bone bruise, because the next stage is a stress fracture and you can’t take the risk to have a stress fracture.
Draper was modelling next summer’s collection for one of his sponsors last week and has been working out regularly at the National Tennis Centre in London this week.
The work is primarily physical at the moment, and when pre-season training begins in earnest later this month, the initial on-court drills are likely to be low in intensity.
The British number one first felt discomfort in his upper left serving arm during the clay court season in the spring, and following a scan after Wimbledon, did not hit any serves for a month.
But the period of rest proved insufficient. He won his first-round match at the US Open, but withdrew before the second, and the opportunity to make his debut at the season ending ATP Finals was gone.
”He’s top 10 and he played half of the year. Just to say how good he is…” Mouratoglou added.
“His only problem for the moment is the injuries: he has been through several injuries already in the past.
“I always thought he was going to be a top player, but for every player that is supposed to become a top player, there are things to solve.
The UTS London Grand Final will be staged at the Copper Box from 5-7 December.
Draper won the event in 2023 and pocketed what was then the biggest pay cheque of his career.
Three-time Grand Slam finalist Casper Ruud will also be in the eight-man field for matches played over four eight-minute quarters.
In connection with the state’s illegal possession of firearms, armed robbery, cattle rustling, and kidnapping, the Plateau State Police Command has made 15 arrests.
During a press conference held at the Command Headquarters in Jos on Thursday, Emmanuel Olugbemiga Adesina, the police commissioner, confirmed the rescue of a kidnap victim and the recovery of locally produced weapons.
We have detained members of kidnapping syndicates, rescued victims, and recovered firearms during various operations carried out during the period under review, according to Adesina, as part of our ongoing efforts to stop Plateau State from carrying out criminal activities.
Auwal Mohammed, a 20-year-old suspect, was detained in Jos North with items allegedly possessed by kidnapping victims, according to the CP. Four suspects were apprehended in Jos after police intercepted a car carrying an Ebuka kidnap victim. Three others tied to a kidnapping syndicate were apprehended in Bassa Local Government Area. The gang recovered a locally produced pistol.
After pursuing them to Nasarawa State, the police boss also revealed that suspects in the Qua’an Pan and Shendam LGAs were questioned after being tracked down. In separate incidents, suspects were apprehended for possessing locally manufactured weapons and live ammunition.
The police commissioner also provided safety advice to Plateau State residents.
Donald Trump, president of the United States, announced on social media that he wanted to cut what he called “Democrat agencies” and used the shutdown to reform the federal workforce.
Trump made the announcement via his Truth Social post on Thursday that he would meet with Russ Vought to discuss “temporary or permanent” spending cuts that might cause Democratic lawmakers to experience a lose-lose situation.
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He claimed that he and Vought would decide “which of the numerous Democratic Agencies” would be cut, continuing their efforts to reduce federal spending by threatening widespread employee layoffs and making “irreversible” cuts to Democratic priorities.
Trump remarked, “I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity.” They are not stupid, so perhaps this is their intention to quietly and quickly restore America’s greatness once more.
Trump’s re-election campaign, which included the controversial Heritage Foundation, was one of the highlights of the post’s explicit support of Project 2025, which the conservative Foundation had drafted.
Democrats repeatedly cited the effort’s objectives as warning of the repercussions of a second Trump administration, saying that it was intended to reshape the federal government around right-wing policies.
Vought outlined the pressure he hoped to apply to Democrats in his opening statement on Wednesday. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and his House counterpart Hakeem Jeffries’ campaign pledged to withhold $ 18 billion from the state’s top taxpayers for the Hudson River rail tunnel and the Second Avenue subway line in New York City.
Additionally, Vought is terminating $ 8 billion worth of Democratic Senators-related green energy projects in states.
Instead of simply furloughing federal employees as is customary during a shutdown, the White House is getting ready for mass firings. Early this week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that layoffs were “imminent.”
Leavitt, a member of the Democratic Party, said on Thursday, “If they don’t want their constituents to suffer further harm,” they need to reopen the government.
Trump’s announcement on his Truth Social website coincided with the government’s second day of a pay-sipping stoppage, which is expected to result in 750, 000 employees being fired from their positions across a variety of organizations.
Leavitt stated to reporters on Thursday that there were likely to be “in the thousands” of job cuts.
Meanwhile, Schumer and Jeffries have said the frequent firings would not be tolerated in court and that the job cuts threat was an attempt at intimidation.
According to Jeffries, “the Trump administration has been doing these things since January 20th,” in reference to the president’s first day in office. The point is “the cruelty,” he says.
Due to the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday, the Senate won’t vote on Thursday; instead, it will vote on Friday and most days until the standoff is resolved.
To approve a bill that the House passed in September, it would require five more Democratic votes to pass the 100-member Senate.
Republicans were reportedly considering sending their senators home after the vote, effectively guaranteeing the shutdown drags into the next week because Democrats were anticipated to again block the Republican reopening plan.
However, House Speaker Mike Johnson stated to reporters that Senate leaders must adhere to an initial plan to work through the weekend in Washington despite members being away all week.
Johnson stated in a press conference at the US Capitol that “the House is coming back next week, hoping that they will send us something to work on so that we can get back to work and do the people’s business.”
He attributed it to Democrats, who “handed it over to the president” and “effectively turned the legislative branch off.”
Democrats are obliging themselves to support a bill that doesn’t pass, warning of price increases for millions of Americans across the country. They are still pressing their demands to maintain healthcare funding.
The standoff runs the risk of dragging even further into October, when federal employees who are still employed will start to lose pay checks. During the shutdown, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), roughly 750, 000 federal employees would be furloughed on any given day, or $400 million in daily wages.
The wider economy might experience the same economic effects. The CBO reported that “reduced aggregate demand in the private sector for goods and services, pushing down GDP.”
According to the statement, “Stalled federal spending on goods and services resulted in a decline in private sector income that further decreased the economy’s demand for other goods and services.”
Overall, according to CBO, there was a “dampening of economic output,” but it subsided once workers resumed their jobs.
On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also stated to CNBC that the government shutdown might hinder economic growth in the US.