Draper Becomes Roddick's One To Watch After Indian Wells Success

 With the end of March quickly approaching tennis fans across the globe will soon be treated to the varying finals of the Miami Open, and the 2025 tournament has already created plenty of headlines with players both finding their form, as well as some unexpectedly seeing it desert them. 

As is usual in the modern game of tennis, Betway Insider are all over the action in their blog and column coverage, and for this years Miami Open former professional Andy Roddick has been giving his thoughts on the unfolding events in his role as their Global Tennis Ambassador and Jannik Sinner featured heavily in his recent column.    

With 23 year old Italian and current World Number 1 Sinner yet to return to the sport following WADA serving him with their suspension, the 42 year old United States born former US Open winner had been adamant that his lack of involvement in tournaments during his suspension would leave the men's side of the game wide open when it came to the potential finalists, and the eventual winners, and he sees no reason to change his original thoughts given how things are now playing out. For those tennis fans who are enjoying a small flutter on the Miami Open, the chances for a more unexpected winner would undoubtedly provide some interesting odds to follow.    

He pointed to Indian Wells as being proof of the pudding, as with Jack Draper (13th seed) and Holger Rune (12th seed) ultimately contesting the final, he felt that tennis fans had not seen tournaments being so open where anyone could reach the final stages in that manner since the early 2000's and obviously he felt that this had massively increased the excitement for fans, and that ultimately it was great for the sport as more players obviously felt that they were truly in with a chance of lifting silverware in a way that was not normally the case given how the game is dominated by a more select few names in usual circumstances.    

Having referenced Draper who went on to conquer Rune in straight sets (6-2, 6-2) at Indian Wells, the 23 year old London born left hander came in for particular praise for his recent overall improvement as a more consistent player, as ultimately that had put him in the position to take the victory in the final.

 Roddick pointed out how much he had improved his fitness for the tournament, and whilst his game play had improved he felt he had made significant strides in his backhand and choices of shots, particularly how he was returning and breaking serve across the tournament and had become less reliant on his own strength and power with his 'big lefty serve' and he felt that he had broken a few 'lazy narratives' about his style of play by doing that.

However, he also felt that he had plenty of improvement that he could still make to his game before he could really call, or consider himself, proven as one of the top players currently in the game - but he felt that he was now definitely on track to begin getting there as he had begun playing like he had finally found a new belief in his own game and was trusting himself more.

As we see out the excitement that remains in Miami, Roddick will clearly be keeping his eye on the steps that Draper makes as we progress further through the 2025 calendar.