On Saturday, Jack Draper upset Carlos Alcaraz to clinch a debut in the top 10 of the ATP rankings.
As good as that was, life got even better for Draper on Sunday at the BNP Paribas Open.
Draper beat Holger Rune 6-2, 6-2 in the final of the Indian Wells Masters for the first 1000-point title of his career. The British left-hander cracked 10 aces to Rune’s one, did not double-fault once, and did not face a single break point over the course of one hour and nine minutes.
“Obviously it feels incredible to win here,” Draper said during his post-match press conference. “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’re thinking of all kinds of scenarios in your head, a lot of doubts, thinking that you probably could lose. What makes it even better is…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.”
The 23-year-old will climb to No. 8 in the world this coming week. He is 13-2 for the season and is third in the race to Turin.
Rune fell to 1-3 lifetime in Masters 1000 championship matches. The 21-year-old Dane will be No. 12 in the world and No. 8 in the 2025 face on Monday.
“Obviously Jack played an amazing tournament and he deserved to win today,” Rune commented. “He was serving amazing, for sure. But I think I could have done my part better. Like the opportunities I had to play aggressive just weren’t good enough. I think [that] was the reason why I lost today, because the few chances I had to make it difficult for him, I didn’t quite take them–because I wasn’t really trusting every shot of my game.”
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.