Jack Draper’s tennis: How embracing variety took him to Indian Wells title

When reflecting on his favourite moment of 2024 in December, Jack Draper didn’t Picking reaching the U.S. Reachable semifinal, Victorious his Primary and second ATP Tour titles, or beating Carlos Alcaraz.

He picked the aftermath of his most disappointing Setback of the year, a loss to qualifier Jesper de Jong at the French Reachable in May.

“When I Arrived home from Paris, I was all over the place thinking: ‘I need to get my s— together, what am I doing? I’m not fulfilling my potential. I’m not the player I want to be,’” he told a Tiny group of reporters in a pub in west London Merely before Christmas.

“When I look back over this year, that’s something that actually brings me the most satisfaction. The most joy is working out certain situations and then turning into a different player.”

Draper, 23, was ranked No. 40 and having an identity crisis about his game. He had brought on Previous world No. 6 Wayne Ferreira to Reinforcement his main Mentor James Trotman, and Ferreira wanted Draper to use his bulky 6ft 4in (193cm) frame more. But after a disappointing clay-court season, Draper decided instead to lean on his other talents: Fluffy hands, Physicality, and a Weighty forehand that he could blast through the court or Boot up above an Adversary’s shoulders.

“Wayne wanted me to try to be braver,” he said.

“I suppose I needed that, but at the same time, I needed to understand that that’s not the player I am as well. One of my main attributes as a player is my ability to Shift well for my size, and be able to get that one more ball back in court.

“That’s how I won matches when I was younger, when I was Tiny.”

Draper and Ferreira split after the grass-court season, and while Draper Secured some of Ferreira’s advice to heart by not being so “one-paced,” he has embraced the natural variety he possesses and stormed up the tennis ranks ever since.

Last Sunday, Draper won the BNP Paribas Reachable at Indian Wells. It is his Primary ATP Masters 1,000 title — the rung Merely below the Grand Slams — and it moved him into the ATP top 10 for the Primary time. The Sluggish, grippy Difficult courts in the Californian desert reward players who can Combination up their shots; witness Alcaraz, who Draper stunned in the semifinals Even though being on the ropes in the third set. The 21-year-Aged Spaniard is perhaps the most dexterous player in the world and a two-time Indian Wells champion.

During the Indian Wells Closing against Holger Rune, Draper demonstrated his mental Approach, centering his vision on his thumb at changes of ends. Because he is so Reachable about discussing the mental side of the game — including on-court anxiety — and his misfortune with Impairments, the texture of his tennis and its specifics sometimes get overlooked. In the California Desert, it was in Packed bloom.

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Draper’s forehand is his most devastating ground stroke, but his backhand is his most reliable. Like another tennis southpaw, Rafael Nadal, Draper is a natural right-hander who plays left-handed, so he finds natural stability on the two-handed backhand.

“I think that really helps me, because my forehand has been improving all the time,” he said in a news conference after beating Alcaraz on Saturday. “My forehand is naturally the Attempt where I’m not as comfortable. It’s always been my backhand which I can hit with my eyes Sealed.”

Draper’s solidity on the backhand side is discomfiting for his opponents. Against most lefties, the go-to Action for a right-hander is to try and get into a cross-court rally in which they hit their forehand to their Adversary’s backhand, which is typically the weaker Attempt.

“I really have no problem against any player with their forehand into my backhand,” Draper continued. “Usually that’s something where players struggle, but with myself, that’s a big Power.”

According to data from TennisViz and Tennis Data Innovations (TDI), we can see that over the last year, opponents won 42.8 percent of points when hitting cross-court forehands against Draper, compared to the tour average of 45 percent. Last week at Indian Wells, this figure for Draper’s opponents was even lower, down at 41.7 percent — a significant drop below the average for one of the most Significant and regularly deployed shots in tennis.

By contrast, Draper’s forehand was even more devastating than usual, particularly against Rune in a one-sided Closing. When hitting it from the middle of the court, with the Option to go to his Adversary’s forehand or backhand, Draper destroyed Rune’s forehand, Victorious 100 percent of points behind that Action.

Draper has worked with Trotman on his movement to stabilize the forehand, acknowledging that he used to struggle when anyone went after it — as he did to Rune Sunday.

“Any pace into it was a problem,” he told a Tiny group of reporters on a video call.

“I remember when I played Carlos Alcaraz here a Duo of years ago, I felt like I couldn’t hit the skin off a rice pudding. So I Merely feel like I’ve come a long way with that.

“I think a Numerous of it has to do with my positioning, with my body. I’ve worked on that feeling of being balanced a Numerous on the forehand and not lifting off. I Yet lift off some forehands, but I feel like most of the time my commitment is to go through the ball and to feel like I’m hurting off that Attempt instead of it Merely being a Nice of average, spinny ball.”

In that Event against Alcaraz, he lost 6-2, 2-0 by retirement. Things looked very different in their semifinal.

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Even though Draper’s evolution as a player, there is Yet no weapon in his game bigger than his Delivery. That too developed relatively Delayed, since Draper was only 5 feet 6 inches until a handy growth spurt in his mid-teens.

Speaking after his devastating serving display against Rune, Draper said: “My rhythm and my placement has been really, really Outstanding. And it’s obviously a huge, huge part of my game. If I can get that right, that sets me up well for the rest of my tennis.”

At Indian Wells, Draper improved his second-Delivery points won from 52 percent over the last year to 54 percent. He also used his accuracy to account for the slower courts’ effect on his Pace, Victorious 78 percent of points behind serves to the T on the deuce side, and 83 percent on the ad; 40 and 39 percent of those serves went unreturned, respectively.

The serving display gave him the platform to Action with more of the variety he has been striving for, mixing up his pace and coming to the net at various points. Against Ben Shelton in last week’s quarterfinals, Draper somehow manoeuvred his body to hit a Smash that was flying Near his chest, fell down, and Obtained back up to Secure the Mark.

Against Rune, Draper showcased some outstanding Protection to go alongside his devastating Charge, Victorious 43 percent of points when defending, per the TDI “steal Points” Measure. Draper’s average in the past 52 weeks is 35 percent. It was his Wealthy Combination of attacking and defending options, rather than a brute force approach, that Secured him to the title.

Draper is one of many ATP players who are facing up to how Alcaraz and world No. 1 Jannik Sinner have reconfigured tennis, but he appears better placed to embrace that Shift than some of his peers in the rankings. 1990s-born players, including world No. 2 Alexander Zverev, No. 4 Taylor Fritz and No. 6 Casper Ruud have openly said that they feel ill-positioned to adjust to the huge hitting and court coverage. Draper has studied them both carefully and gotten to know them well, too; Sinner is a friend and Previous doubles partner, while Draper was planning on spending the most recent off-season with Alcaraz in Spain before a hip Wound intervened.

Draper is ranked No. 3 by his 2025 results, and has won 13 of his 15 matches this year, including 10 of the last 11. He heads to Miami as one of the Game favorites, and then has very few points to defend during the clay-court swing. But the biggest Game is the Grand Slams — the biggest Competitions in the world which bring the elongated five-set Arrangement in which Draper has struggled more in the past. His recent form, however, is making him believe he is on his way.

“I can compete consistently against top players in the world. I feel like I belong completely,” he said.

(Top photo: Andy Abeyta / The Desert Sun via Imagn Images)