Jack Draper leans on new service motion to open Indian Wells title defense

Jack Draper received his BNP Paribas Open title defense off to a successful begin on Saturday, battling previous Roberto Bautista Agut 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to attain the third spherical. Still within the early levels of his comeback from damage, the Brit confirmed encouraging indicators as he settled into the match and closed strongly to safe the three-set victory.

The No. 14 seed missed a lot of the 2025 season and the beginning of 2026 due to a left-arm damage (bone bruising on his serving arm). He performed just one match after 2025 Wimbledon—successful in opposition to Federico Gomez within the first spherical on the US Open, earlier than withdrawing—and was compelled to pull out of this yr’s Australian Open.

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Now settling again on tour after eight months away, Draper mentioned one of many greatest changes he is made—a new service motion.

The 24-year-old broke down the adjustments in dialog with Chris Eubanks and Steve Weissman on the BMW Tennis Channel Desk.

“Most of it was just reflecting on my injury, to be honest,” Draper mentioned. “I had a couple of arm injuries the last couple of years. Obviously, the one that I just had was very complex, very long, and so I had to make decisions to help my recovery. That was one of them.”