Jack Draper mentioned he was “privileged” to have been on court docket with Andy Murray after beating the three-time grand-slam winner on the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Monday. Draper gained 7-6 (6), 6-2 in two hours in his first ATP Tour match along with his fellow Briton.
Murray had a set level within the first set, however Draper saved it with an ace and the 21-year-old went on to ebook a last-16 assembly with the highest seed, Carlos Alcaraz. Draper’s win lifted him as much as forty third within the dwell ATP rankings, having began the week at 56th, one place beneath the 35-year-old Scot.
In an on-court interview broadcast by Amazon Prime Video, Draper mentioned: “I’ve appeared as much as Andy since I used to be so younger. I watched him win Wimbledon for the primary time in 2013 after which I’ve had the chance to get to know him and practise with him usually since 2019.
“He’s a extremely particular individual, an amazing champion, nice human being and I’m privileged to play towards him on this court docket.”
Draper, who defeated British No 2 Dan Evans within the second spherical, added: “Beating Dan and Andy, that’s about as a lot confidence as I’d want for that [Alcaraz] match. Carlos is one other stage up, he’s been No 1 on this planet, had an distinctive 12 months final 12 months, so it could be superb to play him once more in one other actual battle.”
Murray, who was averaging extra then three hours a match in 2023 earlier than his previous two outings, felt tiredness acquired the higher of him. “Within the tie-break I had a couple of alternatives, however he got here up with a extremely good return on the six-all level after which the second set was robust for me bodily,” he instructed BBC Sport.
“Only a little bit of fatigue. Lately I’ve performed numerous lengthy matches and the primary set was very robust bodily for each of us and right here it’s not that simple to complete factors.”
Alcaraz defeated Tallon Griekspoor within the third spherical to grow to be the second-fastest participant to succeed in 100 ATP Tour wins. The 19-year-old has a 100-32 tour-level file and is behind solely John McEnroe (100-31) on the checklist of gamers to succeed in the milestone, forward of Andre Agassi (100-35), Rafael Nadal (100-37), Mats Wilander and Jimmy Connors (each 100-38).
after publication promotion
Draper and Alcaraz have met as soon as, on the indoor occasion in Basel final autumn, with the Spaniard successful a decent contest.
