Draper has long been touted as a future top player. Plenty of his rivals and colleagues on tour have often named him in yearly predictions videos and he has been enjoying a steady rise over the last year, winning two titles in 2024.
The 23-year-old took things to the next level in Indian Wells over the last fortnight, being crowned a Masters 1000 champion. While Draper’s big win won’t have come as too much of a surprise, it was the manner in which he claimed the title that really stood out.
The Brit took out teenage sensation Joao Fonseca in his opening match before beating former world No. 33 Jenson Brooksby, who is coming back from a two-year absence.
Draper went on to defeat Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune – all four are top-15 players while three of them have already won titles at Masters 1000 level.
The British No. 1 had a key advantage against his opponents – he plays left-handed. But Draper is naturally right-handed, and he gave an unusual reason for making the switch when holding a tennis racket.
“Yeah, it’s an advantage,” Draper told the ATP ahead of the Miami Open. “A lot of people ask me, ‘How did that happen?’ or ‘That’s really strange’.
“And I don’t know. My answer is just that I’m a weird guy. That’s it. I’m just weird.”
Draper will be hoping that he can do more damage in the sunshine state this week. The new world No. 7 is in contention to compete the ‘sunshine double’ – winning Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back.
The Brit has a bye directly into the second round of the Miami Open, where he will face either Roberto Bautista Agut or Jakub Mensik.
And Draper is keen to keep building on the impressive form he showed in California. “I know there is a long way ahead of me,” he said.
“I’m very ambitious. I don’t want to just stop here. I want to keep on going.”
