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

Jack Draper got his BNP Paribas Open title defense off to a winning start on Saturday, battling past Roberto Bautista Agut 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the third round. Still in the early stages of his comeback from injury, the Brit showed encouraging signs as he settled into the match and closed strongly to secure the three-set victory.

The No. 14 seed missed most of the 2025 season and the start of 2026 due to a left-arm injury (bone bruising on his serving arm). He played only one match after 2025 Wimbledon—winning against Federico Gomez in the first round at the US Open, before withdrawing—and was forced to pull out of this year’s Australian Open.

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Now settling back on tour after eight months away, Draper discussed one of the biggest adjustments he’s made—a new service motion.

The 24-year-old broke down the changes in conversation with Chris Eubanks and Steve Weissman at the BMW Tennis Channel Desk.

“Most of it was just reflecting on my injury, to be honest,” Draper said. “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.”

His new motion features a platform stance instead of Draper’s previous pinpoint stance—the new stance favors stability and balance over maximizing power, a change overseen by coach Jamie Delgado, former coach of Andy Murray. Draper also switched to natural gut strings in his racquet.

“It wasn’t about getting more power or more spin. I didn’t need any of that,” he explained. “I was at a stage with my injury where I needed to do everything I could to help my arm recover and be where I need to be.”

On Saturday, Draper put it to the test with mixed results. He served only 57 percent of first serves (compared to Bautista Agut’s 81 percent), but when Draper’s first serve landed he won 88% of those points. He was pushed to three sets, but he also stood up well under pressure, saving six of the seven break points he faced.

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Draper is competing in his second ATP tournament of the year at Indian Wells. He made his return at Davis Cup, where his straight-sets win over Viktor Durasovic (No. 329) helped Great Britain to a 4-0 win over Norway. At the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, he also won one match over Quentin Halys before losing in three sets to Arthur Rinderknech.

“I think the one thing that maybe is taking a little bit of time is the consistency in what I’m dealing with, especially on the match court. Obviously practice is different. I feel like I have been practicing pretty well for a long time,” Draper told press in Indian Wells.

“I think the more time I actually spend on court, the better. I don’t want to be obviously playing three-set matches, but I think, for instance, today is my first Masters 1000 back. I’ve been off the tour for eight months, and so it’s been difficult getting back into it…

“I think today helped me, actually playing three sets and being able to stay out there.”

He will face No. 19 seed Francisco Cerundolo next in the third round. Cerundolo leads their head-to-head 2-0.