March 17, 2025
Jack Draper rose to the occasion on Sunday in the biggest final of his career at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
In a dominant display from first ball to last, the 23-year-old Briton stormed to a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Holger Rune to claim his first ATP Masters 1000 title. After navigating a gauntlet of top talent to reach the BNP Paribas Open final, including wins against two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and Americans Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz, Draper saved his most emphatic performance for last.
“It’s incredible. I wasn’t expecting this,” Draper said moments after his one-hour, nine-minute victory. “I’ve put in a lot of work over time and I’m just so grateful and so happy to be out here to be able to play, my body being healthy, to feel great in my mind. All the work I’ve done over the last few years feels like it’s coming together on the big stage and I can’t put that into words.”
“I felt like I came out, I approached the game well. Yesterday I had a few ups and downs during the match, a bit of low energy against Carlos and I learned from that today,” Draper said, referring to his 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 victory against Alcaraz. That middle set was the only one the Briton lost in six matches in Indian Wells.
“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,” he continued. “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.”
Sunday’s final was the first at ATP Masters 1000 level contested by two players born in the 2000s, and the first between players outside the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings since World No. 26 Cameron Norrie beat No. 36 Nikoloz Basilashvili in the 2021 Indian Wells final. It was also the first Indian Wells final between players age 23 or younger since Rafael Nadal (22) beat Andy Murray (21) in 2009.
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