The Albany Gazette - Proud Draper sees Indian Wells triumph as fruit of his labours

The 25-year-old enjoyed an outstanding two weeks in the Californian desert, enjoying an upset win over Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals, after beating top Americans Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz.

In the final he defeated Denmark's Holger Rune in straight sets - a triumph which moved him into the top 10 for the first time in his career.

Asked what his main emotion had been in the aftermath of that triumph, Draper said: "I think big pride ... to be able to celebrate that with my team ... in tennis, there's lots of ups and downs, there's lots of adversity, especially for me over the years.

"I feel like I've been on a big journey with my team and the guys around me, and they've been incredibly supportive of myself," Draper said Wednesday as he prepared for this week's Miami Open in Florida.

Draper's Indian Wells victory was viewed as a surprise in many quarters but the player himself said he had felt an important win was increasingly within his reach.

"I feel like, I've been on a trajectory where I've been really consistent for a while, putting in great work, trying to really learn and grow, not only as a player, but also as a person off the court. And I feel like it's amazing," he said.

"That moment felt amazing, not because of the win and all that, just because, you know, the accumulation of all the hours spent, all the hard work, all the figuring out the problems and the things we need to improve.

"And to be able to celebrate that with the close people around me, my family, you know, that feels amazing," he said.

- Turning point -

Draper said his first tournament victory on the tour, in Stuttgart last June, had been a turning point in his confidence that he could reach the elite in the sport.

"I was a lot calmer because of that. I feel like that was something I needed to get over as a hurdle in my mind as a young player. When you come onto the tour, it's difficult. You're kind of in the changing room with all the players you've watched on the TV and you admire.

"I'm sure everyone feels that, you feel like you don't belong and then you're out on court and you're playing. But I think the more and more experiences I've got of playing big matches and winning against big opponents and all this sort of stuff.

"And obviously, semi-final of US Open and winning Vienna, all the accumulation of things, I think over time is helping me to believe more and more that I'm capable of, you know ... I don't know what I am capable of, I don't like to think too far ahead," he said.

With the distance of a few days, Draper is able to put Sunday's victory into context but he didn't try to hide the satisfaction it had given him and the extra boost to his self-belief.

"It definitely gives me more confidence and more inner belief than I had before.

"But at the same time, I've been sort of building towards this, I've been improving all the time at the back end of last year. I was on a really good run of form.

"I feel great about everything and I don't feel crazily different. I just keep up the hard work, keep on doing what I'm doing, and hopefully it keeps on coming together for me," he said.

Draper will start off his Miami Open bid on Saturday against either Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut or Czech Jakub Mensik.

(L.Thomas--TAG)