British dreams crushed at US Open by injuries and world-class rivals

British hopes at the US Open came to a premature end last week, with Cameron Norrie, Jack Draper, and Emma Raducanu all falling short as the sport’s dominant forces once again stamped their authority. From Novak Djokovic’s resilience to Elena Rybakina’s power, the gulf in class was plain to see. For Britain’s top players, the challenge of competing in an era defined by Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in the men’s game, and by a fiercely competitive women’s field led by Aryna Sabalenka, remains a steep one.

Norrie falls to Djokovic on Ashe

Cameron Norrie was the last Brit standing in the men’s singles but his run ended in the third round at Arthur Ashe Stadium, where 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic prevailed 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-3.​

The match itself was peculiar. Djokovic, now 38-years-old, appeared hindered by a back injury early on and even took a medical timeout after seizing up during the first set. For a brief spell, it looked as though Norrie might capitalise, stealing the second set in a tiebreak and breaking at the start of the third. But as so often before, the Serb found another gear. Djokovic reeled off four games in a row and never looked back, extending his flawless record against Norrie to seven wins from seven encounters.

For the Brit, the result was another reminder of the thin margins at the highest level. He competed gamely, but his wait for a first Grand Slam title continues with his best result still being the semifinals of Wimbledon 2022.

Draper’s cruel withdrawal

If Norrie’s exit was predictable, Jack Draper’s was cruel. The 23-year-old, who has been tipped as Britain’s brightest male prospect and is currently ranked fifth in the ATP rankings, withdrew from the tournament after suffering a hip injury. The 2024 semi-finalist, who had not played a match since Wimbledon, battled through a bruising first-round match against qualifier Federico Agustin Gomez, but did not take the court for the second-round clash with Belgium’s Zizou Bergs, handing over a walkover.​

On form, Draper had looked capable of pushing into the tournament’s latter stages. His booming left-handed serve and aggressive baseline play had carried him through the opener with authority. But his body once again betrayed him. For a player whose talent has drawn comparisons with Andy Murray, durability remains the question mark.

Had he been fit, Draper might have offered resistance to the Alcaraz-Sinner duopoly that now dominates men’s tennis. Breaking through it, though, is another matter… Both men, like Draper, are still only in their early twenties, already Grand Slam champions, and have turned the men’s game into their own two-man fiefdom, with Djokovic clinging on as the last remaining pillar of the Big Three era.

Raducanu outgunned

In the women’s draw, Emma Raducanu’s campaign ended in the third round against Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, who comfortably defeated her 6-1, 6-2. The Brit showed flashes of her 2021 US Open brilliance but could not live with the world number 10’s sheer power and consistency.

Raducanu’s early exit came in a tournament where the hierarchy at the top was shifting. Sabalenka remains a formidable world No.1, but Świątek’s straight-sets quarter-final loss to Amanda Anisimova, less than two months after dismantling her 6–0, 6–0 at Wimbledon, proved that even the most dominant players are not untouchable. With names like Anisimova making deep runs, coupled with players surprisingly exiting the tournament at early stages, including world number 3 Coco Gauff, who suffered a straight sets defeat to Japan’s Naomi Osaka in the round of 16, the women’s field looks more open than expected. Yet, tellingly, no Brit was close to seizing that opportunity.

A harsh reality

Taken together, the British exits paint a sobering picture. Norrie remains committed but has limited ability to tackle top players, Draper is supremely gifted but also physically fragile, and Raducanu is still searching for consistency. Meanwhile, at the very top, the men’s game is ruled by the Alcaraz-Sinner rivalry, while the women’s game is becoming a battle of many, with Sabalenka still leading but challengers like Rybakina, Anisimova, Świątek, and Gauff all part of the mix, despite many top players’ early exits from the 2025 US Open.

For British tennis, the disappointment in New York may yet serve as motivation. But for now, the dream of producing genuine contenders remains unfulfilled, and the gap to the game’s leading lights has rarely felt wider.