Jack Draper secured a spot in the round of 16 at Indian Wells after a commanding straight sets win over American Jenson Brooksby.
Draper, who received a bye in the first round, easily defeated the promising teenager Joao Fonseca in the second round. However, the athlete faced a tougher challenge against Brooksby as he had shown signs of frustration in the opening set. He even smashed his racquet as he had difficulty overcoming his opponent’s unorthodox style of play. Despite his struggles, Draper managed to win the match.
The American Brooksby, who has been out for most of the last two years and is playing with a protected ranking, could not keep up his performance. Draper took advantage of this, putting pressure on Brooksby and forcing mistakes. Draper finished the match in under two hours with a final scoreline of 7-5, 6-4.
Draper’s current 2025 season performance
This is only Draper’s third tournament of the year, as a disrupted off-season kept him from playing his Australian Open warm-up events due to a hip problem. He did compete in Melbourne but was forced to retire due to injury in his fourth-round match against Carlos Alcaraz after battling through three five-set matches. Following this, the athlete took several weeks off to recover from his hip injury.
Draper then made his comeback in Doha, where he reached the final but was defeated by Andrey Rublev. That strong performance seemed to have restored his confidence, which was evident in his matches against Fonseca and Brooksby.
The athlete told Sky Sports: “I felt confident, Jenson is someone who makes life very difficult for players. I didn’t know what to expect, he hasn’t played for a while, I haven’t seen him play… It wasn’t the cleanest performance from my side today – I had a lot I could have improved on and a lot of chances I missed – but that’s tennis, you can’t play your best the whole time, and I’m glad with the way I stayed calm and kept on going and got the win in the end.”
He added: “I feel physically good, I feel mentally good. You’ve seen a lot of top players go out early this week, especially because the conditions are so different. Sometimes you have to accept it’s not going to be your best tennis and a lot of that is how I’m feeling. I’m hitting the ball well, but sometimes, it is just not coming off the racquet the way I want it to. I accept that, and next round I’ll get things a bit better again.”
Draper had previously won both of his matches against Brooksby in straight sets, but those victories came in 2022, and this was their first meeting on outdoor hard courts.
In a social media post, Draper shared: “Always wanting more 🔄”
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