Former British women’s player
Laura Robson highlighted what
impressed her the most about fellow countryman
Jack Draper’s win against Spain’s
Carlos Alcaraz at the
Indian Wells. The 23-year-old, who is already regarded as
one of the most talented players currently playing in men’s tennis in the
singles category, has had a brilliant time in California, where he lifted the
ATP 1000 title after beating Denmark’s Holger Rune in the final in straight
sets with a score of 6-2, 6-2.
With that win, he becomes only the second British player
after Cameron Norrie. He lifted the title in 2021 after beating Nikoloz
Basilashvili in the final with a score of 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Draper’s biggest win
of the competition came in the semifinals, where he defeated the reigning world
number three and pre-tournament favourite Alcaraz with a score of 6-1, 0-6, 6-4.
Former British women’s player Robson has been recently
quoted in a report where she highlighted that she was most impressed by Draper’s
mentality in the win against Alcaraz. The 31-year-old, while speaking to Sky
Sports, stated that in her opinion, the 2024 US Open semifinalist would not
have won the contest six months back where he would have felt ‘sluggish’ and ‘flat
footed’.
“The ability to reset give the situation,” she said. “I
think we can make a big deal about how he was playing and yes the forehand, as
the third set went on, was really firing and he was going after the shots. But
I think he won that match mentally because you know six months ago, he might
not have been able to turn it around and get out of that feeling of just
feeling sluggish and feeling a bit flat footed. So to be able to do that in the
semifinal against Carlos, who has won this tournament twice before, yea I think
we were most impressed by that.”