Briton

Britain’s Jack Draper had to retire in the third set of his first-round match against Tomas Martin Etcheverry at the Barcelona Open because of a knee injury.

Draper, playing his first match of the clay-court season, won the first set against Argentina’s Etcheverry 6-3 but began to have difficulty with his movement and lost the second set 6-3.

The 24-year-old received attention from a physio and had tape applied to an area below his right knee shortly before the deciding set started.

His serve was broken twice by Etcheverry in the third set and, after struggling to get around the court, he conceded the contest at 4-1 down.

Draper, ranked 28th in the world, has been cautious during a return from an arm injury and pulled out of the recent Monte Carlo Masters before the tournament.

He was absent for six months because of a bruised bone in his left serving arm, before returning to competitive action in February.

The Barcelona Open was Draper’s fourth event since he made his comeback.

Etcheverry said Draper is a “great competitor” and is keen to see him back on court again in the near future.

“I like how he plays – he’s a great fighter,” he said. “Hopefully he can recover as soon as he can to get back on tour because the tour likes him.”

Cameron Norrie, who replaced Draper as British number one last month, beat Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 to progress through his first-round tie.

Norrie served out for the match at 5-4 in the second set but let the 41-year-old back into the contest before he got himself back on track in the deciding set.

“I put myself in a winning position serving at a set and 5-4 up,” said Norrie, 30, who will play Ethan Quinn of the United States in the second round.

“I played a little tentatively in two shots and then I was very tight in the tie-break. I probably should have won it then, but credit to him. I played at a really good level in the third set.”

Despite the talk of Joshua, Fury faces a decent test in Makhmudov, who has 19 knockouts within the first three rounds and is considered one of the world’s most avoided heavyweights.

“I need a dangerous person to get my juices flowing,” Fury said. “I’ve got a stone-cold killer in this man who could put me out in one shot.

“That means I have to be on my form to deal with this guy. At any given time in my career, I would deal with him the same as I’m going to on Saturday night.”

Fury has not fought in Britain since stopping Derek Chisora in December 2022. A recent training stint in Thailand sparked a renewed passion for the sport, but the ‘Gypsy King’ said he “missed this game”.

The Morecambe fighter has been out of the ring since losing consecutive bouts to world champion Oleksandr Usyk.

Fury’s return comes just a week after two of his trilogy rivals – Deontay Wilder and Chisora – fought in London, with the American victorious.

However, Fury was scathing about the performance of two men he previously dominated.

Fury described the pair as “finished,” suggesting that if he showed even a fraction of that decline, he would have no business being in the ring.

“I’ve never seen two men slide as much as these two,” Fury added.

“They look like a couple of club fighters from a white-collar match in a local leisure centre. It was sad for me to watch.”