Tips for having the best open experience BNP Paribas in Indian Wells Tennis Garden
Sports columnist Shad Powers and journalist Andrew John offer four tips to newcomers who attend the open tennis tournament BNP Paribas, Indian Wells, California, February 27, 2024
Before this year, Jack Draper had not played beyond the final of 16 at Indian Wells. Now the 23-year-old Great Britain player is in the final.
His superb 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 victory against the defending champion Carlos Alcaraz came only three days after a journalist asked Alcaraz if he felt unbeatable at the BNP Paribas Open. And two days after Alcaraz asked with playful if he had to buy a house here, where he came to feel so at home.
Needless to say, Draper’s victory against Alcaraz, in front of a 16,100 -seater stadium almost complete in the Indian Wells Indian garden, was at least a little shocking.
Victory is surely the greatest of Draper’s career. He will now play in his first Masters 1000 final on Sunday against Holger Rune in Denmark, who beat Daniil Medvedev in two sets.
“Relief, joy, you know, just a huge feeling of big emotion,” said Draper.
[More: Holger Rune solves Daniil Medvedev to reach BNP Paribas Open final]
Draper’s victory is based on the 16 -game victories of 16 Alcaraz victories at Indian Wells, dating back to 2023, and Nie Alcaraz to become the third player – after Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer – to win this event three consecutive times.
None of the two players had lost a set this year in four previous games at Indian Wells.
“I am not as upset not to get the third consecutive,” said Alcaraz. “I am upset by myself, on how I approached the match, the way I felt throughout the day, that I couldn’t calm down.”
Draper crossed the row of players from a murderer to reach the semi-finals. He beat the Brazilian star Rising João Fonseca in his first game, before beating the American Jenson Brooksby. He then beat two of the three best Americans, Taylor Fritz, third seeded, and Ben Shelton, 11th seeded.
On Saturday, the draper service caused trouble in Alcaraz in the first set. A Lefty, the draper’s cursor service, which crosses the ground as a slice, awarded him three aces in a dominant opening set.
The opening set only lasted 23 minutes.
Alcaraz said the day was not starting well. He said that he felt nervous that he had not felt for some time and that he was too much of draper game rather than his.
“I did not practice well,” said Alcaraz. “I didn’t feel well on the ground. Even in warming in the field, I missed a lot. I didn’t feel my blows.
He added: “I did not approach the match in the best possible way. So I was nervous throughout the day, in training before the match, and I think it affected the match.”
However, Alcaraz, the second seeded in the draw, has returned to the match with a second resurgent set, fist pumping after big points while the crowd roared in his favor.
“This is what Alcaraz does,” said the commentator of the tennis channel, Jim Courier. “He whispers the crowd as a wave and then rides it.”
But in the third set, Draper, the 13th head of the draw, obtained a huge point on a review in the third match. This helped him take the early break. He then took another break before Alcaraz broke to make the 10th match very interesting.
Draper was able to keep the service in this match, Alcaraz with a few uns forked errors, to keep the victory.
Alcaraz had nine break -out opportunities in the match, but only converted four of them. On the other hand, Draper converted out of four of the five opportunities for a break point he had.
It looked like a story of transition to adulthood for drape, which takes place in real time.
“I felt like I had so much energy to try to put me mentally, to do things in the right direction,” said Draper. “It’s always difficult in tennis matches when you have a big change of momentum against you and then come back and find a way to go to work on a good standard again.”
With the victory, Draper will move to the top 10 in the ATP ranking for the first time on Monday.
Draper and rune clashed only once before as a pros. It was last year in Cincinnati and Rune won. But if Draper plays as he did on Saturday, it should be the game of anyone.
“I can’t wait for tomorrow,” said Draper. “I’m going to make sure to take care of my recovery, not to think too much – it’s the thing with tennis. You have to overcome victories like today, and my whole goal and my energy is to make sure I do all the good things to give myself the best chances of winning the tournament tomorrow.”
[This story has been updated to add new information.]
