Jack Draper: On Winning The Biggest Title Of His Career At Indian Wells, Attaining Top-10 Ranking

Jack Draper, Indian Wells
Jack Draper (photo: ATP Tour video)

INDIAN WELLS/WASHINGTON, March 18, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

When Jack Draper secured match point to garner his first ATP Masters 1000 title, winning the BNP Paribas Open with a dominant 6-2, 6-2 victory over Holger Rune in just 69 minutes, the British lefty knelt down and looked up to the sky.

In a split second, marked by both shock and goosebumps, the 23-year-old Draper from Sutton, England had experienced the thrill of victory like none other that preceded his 92nd career triumph and third ATP tour-level title.

“I think, you know, you train every day,” Draper said during his champion’s news conference after winning Indian Wells, often labeled as the Fifth Slam. “You put in all the sacrifice, all the work, the team around you, my family. You know, I have put in years and years and years of working. Like I said, I watched this event on the TV, watched these big competitions being played with the best players in the world.

“To be amongst that now and to win that, I think I remind myself – you know, maybe when I won my first title I was kind of, like, not really in the moment, and I think, you know, that’s one thing now I try and soak it in and be in the moment and feel the emotions that I’m feeling.

“Yeah, obviously just when I kneeled down there, I just tried to look around and just take it all in and just experience the intense feeling of, you know, being the winner here and the success that I worked so hard for.”

Draper rose to the occasion of the biggest final of his young career in the California palm desert Sunday afternoon. After sprinting to a 4-0 first-set lead, there was no letting up for Draper, distinguished by his chiseled features and an often-fragile physique, in the words of one veteran tennis scribe. He would finish with 21 winners – including 10 aces – and won all but two of his first-serve points. He converted four of seven break points and outpointed Rune 59-39.

By the end of the final, which improved his 2025 win-loss record to 13-2, not only had Draper won the biggest prize in his career since turning pro in 2018 – he was assured of cracking the Top 10 for the first time. On Monday, Draper rose from No. 14 to World No. 7 – just 60 ranking points behind No. 5 Novak Djokovic. He also left Stadium 1 with the biggest – and heaviest – trophy of his career as well the biggest prize-money cheque of $1,201,125 (U.S. Dollars) he’s ever earned for one tournament.

For the first time at an ATP Masters 1000, just one rung below the four Grand Slams, Draper put it all together. Consider this: he dropped just one set in six matches as he marched past Joao Fonseca, Jenson Brooksby, Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, two-time defending Indian Wells champion Carlos Alcaraz and Rune, in what turned out to be a very lopsided final.

“Draper is clearly on the upswing at age 23, managing the stress and the tactical options with more aplomb,” Christopher Clarey wrote in his Substack “Tennis & Beyond” Monday morning.

“He has elite weapons: the heavy left-handed serve and forehand and a pure and percussive two-handed backhand. But he will be even more dangerous now that he has proven to himself and his peers that he can handle the high anxiety that goes with winning his first Masters 1000.”

When the 6-foot-4, 187-pound Draper walked into the interview room at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden to sit for his champion’s news conference, he was asked if he had thought about the title and what mindset he brought into the final to produce such an amazing performance against Rune, who is now ranked World No. 12.

“I mean, obviously it feels incredible to win here,” Draper said. “I have been watching this tournament since I was a young guy, watching all the champions play on this big court.

“It means the world to me, honestly, to be able to be a champion here. I didn’t think about it until obviously the last ball was done.

“Before the match, you know, you’re thinking of all kinds of scenarios in your head, a lot of doubts, thinking that, you know, you probably could lose. And just what makes it even better is that, you know, just getting through those doubts and being able to play the final the way I did. I’m really happy, really proud of my achievements this week.”

Now that Draper has won his first of what could be many ATP Masters 1000 titles and cracked the ATP Top-10 in rankings, he was asked “What’s next?”

“I feel like I have achieved a lot in the last year, and it’s been nothing to do with setting goals,” he said. “Setting goals and saying you’re going to do something, it’s important to believe it, but if you’re not putting in the work and putting in the sacrifice and the days of consistency together, then you’re not going to achieve anything.

“You know, I try, me and my coach [James Trotman], we try on waking up each day and, you know, approaching practice, approaching everything I do in a very structured way and a very consistent way so that, you know, I don’t have many bad days.

“So, when I do maybe have a bad day, my level is still very high. So, you know, obviously I want to be a great player, and I want to achieve amazing things in this sport, but my main goal is keep on improving and keep on knuckling down. I know there is a long way ahead of me. I’m very ambitious. I don’t want to just stop here. I want to keep on going.”

Around the Indian Wells Tennis Garden

Jagger Leach, son of Hall of Famer Lindsay Davenport, and Julieta Pareja, won the boys’ and girls’ singles titles of the Fila International Junior Championships held at Indian Wells on Sunday.

In a pair of all-American finals, the top-seeded Leach defeated No. 2 seed Jack Kennedy, 7-5, 6-2, in an hour and 16 minutes to win the boys’ final, while the No. 5 seed Pareja beat qualifier Ann Nguyen, 6-1, 6-2, in one hour in the girls’ final.

By the numbers

Sunday’s Jack Draper–Holger Rune BNP Paribas Open final was the first one at ATP Masters 1000 level contested by two players who were both born in the 2000s. It was also the first one between two players ranked outside the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings since World No. 26 Cameron Norrie of Great Britain defeated No. 36 Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia in the 2021 Indian Wells final. Finally, it was also the first Indian Wells final between two players aged 23 or younger since Rafael Nadal (22) beat Andy Murray (21) in the 2009 title match.

“Quotable …”

“I knew that Holger was going to come out and be playing some really good tennis, so I needed to be aggressive and play to win from the first ball. I did an amazing job of that and I didn’t allow him to play, and I just felt like I dictated the match really well.”

– Jack Draper of Great Britain, during his on-court interview following his 6-2, 6-2 Indian Wells title victory over Holger Rune on Sunday.

 

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