Ambitious Jack Draper doesn’t want to just stop after Indian Wells title

Indian Wells: After winning his first Masters 1000 title at the Indian Wells Open by downing Holger Rune 6-2, 6-2 in just over an hour, Jack Draper is determined to continue improving to create such moments again.

In addition to his third ATP Tour title and his first on outdoor hard courts, Draper will be rewarded with his Top 10 debut. He will rise seven places to No 7 in the ATP Rankings.

“I’m not really thinking about any outcomes, ranking-wise or events-wise. I feel like I have achieved a lot in the last year, and it’s been nothing to do with setting goals. 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,” Draper said.

“Me and my coach, we try waking up each day and approaching practice, approaching everything I do in a very structured way and a very consistent way so that I don’t have many bad days. So when I do maybe have a bad day, my level is still very high.

“So 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,” the Briton added.

The 14th-ranked Briton, who toppled two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals, didn’t face a break point as he subdued the 13th ranked Dane in just 69 minutes.

“It’s incredible,” said Draper, a US Open semi-finalist last year whose preparations for 2025 were hindered by a flare-up of hip tendinitis.

“I’m just so grateful and happy to be out here, to be able to play, my body feeling healthy, to feel great in my mind.

“All the work I’ve done over the last few years, it feels like it’s all coming together on the big stage and I can’t put that into words,” added the 23-year-old, who also missed significant time with a shoulder injury in 2023.

Draper was rock-solid in his first Masters 1000 final, racing to a 4-0 lead as Rune made a nervous start.

Draper dropped just four points on serve in the opening set as Rune, who burst on the scene with a precocious Paris Masters triumph in 2022, had 10 of his 19 unforced errors in the set.

“I think it was definitely a big moment for me. I hadn’t felt that way on the court for a while where I felt like my energy was kind of sapped from the emotions from the match with Carlos and the environment and who I was playing,” Draper said.

“I think that third set was huge, because I came in today knowing this is a final, I might have the same feelings. But in truth, I felt kind of a bit nervous before I played, but then when I got out on the court, I felt amazing,” he concluded.