Draper sadly withdraws from the Australian Open; Shenzhen Intercontinental Cup criticized as an amateur show, Zhang Zhizhen defeats Kobori

Three minutes daily to catch up on world tennis news. Hello tennis fans, today is Saturday, December 27, 2025. Welcome to the midday news report from Tennis Home.

Early this morning Beijing time, Britain’s leading player Draper posted a video announcing his injury-related withdrawal from the entire 2026 Australian season, including the Australian Open, citing slow recovery and inability to reach competition standards. “This is obviously a very, very tough decision because the Australian Open is a Grand Slam event and one of the most important tournaments in our sport. So far, I’ve faced many setbacks, but this one is undoubtedly the hardest, most complicated, and demanding. It’s strange, but it seems to make me more resilient, more determined, and more eager to become the player I want to be. I can’t wait to return to the court in 2026 and compete at the highest level.”

Draper’s left arm injury flared up at Wimbledon in July, after which he only played one match at the US Open and spent the rest of the time recovering. Unfortunately, despite extended rest, his injury has not healed, causing him to miss all planned tournaments. Now, by announcing his early withdrawal from the Australian Open, it shows his physical condition still cannot meet competition requirements in the short term. Some fans worry, “Can fragile Draper fully recover? We were hoping he could break the dominance of Alcaraz and Sinner!”

Let’s turn to the WTCC World Tennis Intercontinental Challenge. Yesterday afternoon Beijing time, this star-studded exhibition took place in Shenzhen. On the first day, Europe’s Bencic and Swiatek defeated the World Team’s Wang Xinyu and Rybakina respectively, helping Europe secure a commanding 2-0 lead.

During the player introduction segment that day, a mistake by the event organizers caused laughter among the audience and drew criticism from many fans, who called it an amateurish operation. The error was that when introducing the world No. 2 female player, Poland’s Swiatek, the big screen displayed the caption “2024 Three Challenge Series Champion, 2025 Shanghai Masters Men’s Singles Champion, 2025 ATP Breakthrough Player of the Year.” Obviously, this was the introduction for Monaco’s player Vacherot, mistakenly swapped by the organizers. Isn’t that quite funny?

In the third match that ended around noon Beijing time today, World Team’s Zhang Zhizhen battled Europe’s Kobori for 1 hour and 24 minutes, winning 7-6, 6-3, and securing the first point for the World Team.

The following fourth match featured Europe’s Swiatek against World Team’s Wang Xinyu. In their tour-level head-to-head, Swiatek leads 1-0 with a double bagel victory. Although this is an exhibition, Wang Xinyu surely aims to even the score or at least avoid a heavy defeat. As of this report, the match has just started, so fans, go cheer for Wang, the beauty!

Additionally, the MGM Macau Tennis Legends Invitational will begin at 2 PM today. Li Na and Martinez will lead off as captains, followed by a singles match between Shang Juncheng and Fokina. After a break, a doubles exhibition will feature Shang Juncheng/Ierla versus Wu Yibing/Mira Andreeva, followed by a singles match of Wu Yibing against Humbert. Interested fans shouldn’t miss it!

Finally, let’s play a guessing game. The picture below shows a player with his pet dog. Without any hints, can you identify who he is?

In last week’s guessing game, some fans gave the correct answer. That’s right, the person in the picture is Zhu Lin, who won gold at the National Games.

(Source: Tennis Home Author: Maverick)