Carlos Alcaraz has opened up on the video review incident which sparked controversy during his defeat to Jack Draper at Indian Wells. The young Spaniard was denied a place in the final despite being the pre-match favourite, losing in three sets to his British opponent. Draper breezed into an early lead, claiming the opening set in just 23 minutes, but was pegged back when Alcaraz bagelled him in the second.
It resulted in the match going to a decisive final set, with Draper prevailing to secure a 6-1 0-6 6-4 victory and reach the biggest final of his career to date. He will go up against Holger Rune on Sunday evening with high hopes of winning his first ATP Masters title.
At a crucial point in the third set, Draper was denied a point because chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani thought the ball had bounced twice before he struck it. Draper responded by marching over to request a video review. When Lahyani realised his mistake, he initially agreed to replay the point.
Draper was not having it, though. He asked Lahyani to carry out another video review to determine whether Alcaraz kept the ball in play with his return. After a lengthy delay of several minutes, the point was awarded to Draper and he went on to break Alcaraz in the same game.
Quizzed on whether the incident threw him off in his post-match press conference, Alcaraz replied: “Well, not really. I mean, I didn’t see if it was one bounce or two bounces at the beginning. So I was just waiting for the review.”
After the second video review, Lahyani controversially announced that Alcaraz had not been hindered by his ‘not up’ call and that he had failed to make a legitimate return.
Reflecting on that decision, Alcaraz added: “With the second review, it [Lahyani’s call] was in the middle of the point or after I hit it, I wasn’t sure enough. So I didn’t hear, you know, while I was hitting the ball, but I wasn’t sure enough to say something.
“And, you know, waiting for the ball reviews, they didn’t bother to me at all. I mean, that way it was normal for the review.”
Draper went on to secure an impressive victory over Alcaraz, who was gracious in defeat as he admitted that his opponent was simply the better player on the day.
“All I can say is [Draper] came,” he said. “He played much better than me. That point didn’t affect, you know, for my play at all.”
Alcaraz was chasing a third successive title at Indian Wells and his second of 2025 following his glory at the Rotterdam Open last month. He will be hoping for a better result at the upcoming Miami Open, having last claimed the honours back in 2022.