Indian Wells: Jack Draper ‘fancied a fresh start’ as he returns to defend title after injury-hit six months

After a win on Davis Cup obligation for Great Britain in Norway in early February – in what was his first match since August – Draper was suggested not to play in Rotterdam the next week.

But when he returned to the tour in Dubai, sporting a black compression sleeve on his arm, he beat Quentin Halys earlier than falling in three units to Arthur Rinderknech.

“I was very happy with the week in Dubai,” Draper advised BBC Sport.

“It wasn’t so much about my level, it was how I was going to respond to the matches, to the practice. That was kind of the final hurdle, really.

“I used to be happy with simply getting on the market and competing onerous and doing what I really like as soon as once more.

“Potentially it was probably a good thing that I wasn’t playing match after match after match.”

Draper beat back-to-back top-five gamers in Taylor Fritz and Alcaraz on their means to final yr’s Indian Wells closing, earlier than overcoming Holger Rune to raise a first Masters 1000 trophy.

One of the perks of profitable at Indian Wells is that you just get to choose the menu for the next yr’s Champions Lunch.

Draper selected steak and chips, which appeared on the menu as grass fed filet mignon with parmigiano truffle fries and a inexperienced peppercorn sauce.

The girls’s champion Mirra Andreeva opted for cheese pancakes with vanilla-honey mascarpone for dessert – and he or she wasn’t the one having regrets.

“I’m not feeling too great about that choice now,” Draper mentioned earlier than the meals was served.

“I’ve got to practice in about an hour. When I said that I was probably very deep in a training block, and having a very strict diet.”