INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Jack Draper beat Holger Rune 6-2, 6-2 in the Indian Wells men’s singles final Sunday.
The No. 13 seed prevailed over the No. 12 seed in a one-sided match, ultimately decided by Draper’s untouchable serve, Rune’s strategic mistakes and the Englishman holding his nerve when the end drew near.
It is Draper’s first ATP Masters 1,000 title, and his run at Indian Wells takes him into the ATP Tour top 10 for the first time.
The Athletic’s tennis writers, Charlie Eccleshare and Matt Futterman, analyze the final and what it means for tennis.
How did Draper dominate with his serve?
As Draper came out to serve for the first set, Rune was at the other end of the court having a long and loud conversation with his coach, Lars Christensen. The exasperation in both men was understandable — the Dane was getting absolutely nothing in his return games.
The pep talk did seem to help a little, as Rune doubled his receiving points won in the set from two to four, but Draper was serving like a dream. He won 16 of 20 service points in the set, and seven of his 12 first serves were aces. That’s a lot of walking from side to side for the returner. Overall, Draper won 11 out of his 12 first-serve points in the opening set, hitting 90 percent and above on that metric, as he had done for most of the tournament.
The pace — above his average for the event — was one thing, but the variety was devastating too. Rune just could not get any sort of read on Draper’s service angles, frequently guessing wrong and walking away from aces even before they had thundered into the back fence.
Though the second set wasn’t quite as dominant, the Brit won 18 of 26 serve points and didn’t face a break point all match. Overall, he won 89 percent of his first-serve points.
Charlie Eccleshare
What was wrong with Rune’s strategy?
Holger Rune played one of the greatest matches in his career against Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals, and he credited a change in strategy for the victory.
“We had a plan A and a plan B today,” he said after the match. “The first plan, I don’t want to go too much into detail in case he’s listening or something. It was to play my game, come forward, take the ball on the rise. I thought it was difficult, because if you don’t really feel the ball amazingly and if you hit hard to him, he likes the pace and he responds well to being on defense, hitting strong back.
“So I tried to make it difficult for him. I tried to mix it up, making every shot that he has to play annoying for him. Slices, slow slices, some mixing the tempo, hitting hard on some, looping some. It was very much also what I felt was working.”
Twenty-four hours later, Rune came out flat for the final as he once more tried to go with his default game plan: Being aggressive, taking the ball early, hunting his forehand.
This time though, with Draper playing effectively off the front foot, Rune didn’t adapt. Instead, he appeared to double down on plan A. With hitting hard and being aggressive not working, he tried to hit harder and be more aggressive. The results weren’t pretty. Lots of balls into the net and lots of misses, including a whiff on a big swing at a Draper first serve early in the second set.
Fundamental to his problems was his direction.
When hitting the ball from the middle of the court, Draper attacked Rune’s forehand more than his backhand, winning the point 100 percent of the time when he did so, according to directional data from Tennis Data Insights and Tennis Viz. Rune, by contrast, kept trying to hit his forehand to Draper’s backhand, even as the right-handed lefty (see also: Rafael Nadal) dealt with the challenge with ease.
Matt Futterman
How did Draper respond to wobbles under pressure through the week?
For the first 11 games in the final, Draper had set up residency in the zone — that fabled place all athletes long to be, where everything flows and they don’t even have to think about what they are doing.
But then, leading 6-2, 2-1 and serving, Draper had his first little wobble.
He was taken to deuce for the first time and appeared to be overthinking things, attempting a couple of drop shots when his plan A of letting his forehand take over had been working perfectly. Draper was temporarily awoken from his trance-like state, but he banged another ace down the T and let out a big roar when Rune went long with a forehand to give him an important hold.
Draper has spoken about his struggles with anxiety previously, and the biggest match of his career before Sunday was blighted by bouts of tension-induced vomiting. During his semifinal defeat to Jannik Sinner at last year’s U.S. Open, Draper appeared hampered by the intensity of the moment.
Some of that anxiety had appeared at Indian Wells in the last few rounds, when against both Taylor Fritz and Carlos Alcaraz, Draper botched his first attempt to serve out the match. In the latter, he dropped off dramatically in the second set, losing it 6-0 and looking like he might fade away before a double-bounce controversy woke him back up and he was able to reset and ultimately take the win.
Against Rune in the final, Draper controlled his emotions and did not let his concentration waver as he motored towards the biggest title of his career. He served out the final game to 15, racing to a 40-0 lead and not letting go even as Rune tried to push back.
Charlie Eccleshare
Did smart physical decisions create this title for Draper?
Why now for Draper? Perhaps because of good decisions.
He talked a lot about that this week. Taking the long view was a commitment he made a few years back, when he realized that not every tournament was going to feel like Indian Wells. Tennis was going to be a hard climb, through backwater events with little glitz and glamour.
He committed, and it wasn’t easy. Lots of loneliness and struggle, but he saw it through — even when suffering injury.
The shorter view was his commitment this year to prioritizing his health. He has to be careful with a seemingly chronic hip issue, and he skipped training with Alcaraz in Spain in the off-season. He decided to not play a Davis Cup tie for Great Britain after the Australian Open, then pulled out of the ATP Tour Dubai tournament after losing in Qatar.
“I hoped that I would have played more than I have done, so far. I’ve obviously played, this is my third tournament, but the decision not to play Dubai and obviously before Australia and just after Australia, not playing Davis Cup, they were decisions based on my injury in late December. You know, it was a pretty serious injury that, you know, I have to look after for the rest of my career,” Draper said in a news conference earlier this week.
“It’s important that I get my scheduling right. Obviously, I know tennis is a relentless sport, and especially with what’s coming up now with Indian Wells, Miami, and then hopefully for the rest of the year, there are so many options, so many tournaments.
“It just didn’t seem right to start the season to risk it. Because the main thing I want to do when I am playing is go out there and get it right and compete harder, and hopefully go deep in these tournaments now.”
Those hopes were rewarded Sunday.
Matt Futterman
What did Draper say after the final?
“Wow. I know how tough this sport is, how much we put into it on a daily basis, away from home. It’s a real honor to share the court with you today,” he said to Rune on court. “You never really know when it’s your time. I lost first round here last year, so I didn’t get to experience the tournament so much.”
What did Rune say after the final?
“Tough day for me, but I have to start with congratulating Jack. What a two weeks you had here. Some incredible tennis and for sure you deserved to win today. Thanks to my team as well. We do a great job, so let’s keep striving for more and keep pushing the limits,” he said on court.
(Top photo: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)
