Indian Wells 2025

Carlos Alcaraz came into this event on the men’s side as the two-time defending champion, taking out Daniil Medvedev in the finals in 2023 and 2024. The style of Carlos mixes retrieval and power - a perfect combination for the previously slower and grittier surface at Indian Wells. The tournament changed surface this year from Plexipave to Leykold, the newer surface playing slightly faster and favouring big hitters. Did it make a difference? Daniil Medvedev, one of the tour’s great defenders who seems to play kilometers behind the baseline, still made the semi-finals this year. In my opinion, yes it did make a small difference. Ben Shelton, Arthur Fils, Jack Draper, and Tallon Griekspoor all made the quarterfinals and are known for their bombing serves and attacking styles. However, it was two players who combine aggressiveness with court coverage and a high level of fitness, that pushed through to the finals. Que up Holger Rune v. Jack Draper.

Draper v. Rune Recap:

Having experienced high level matches (no, not on the ATP Tour, save your comments) against players that play a similar style to Jack Draper, I could put myself into the shoes of Holger Rune during the first set of this final. You (Rune) feel like you are on a runaway train and you have no idea where the brake is. Even if you do know where it is, you have no idea how to engage it.

Draper was in a tree. He was dominant off the ground in most points in this set, even on Rune’s serve. Turning to Draper’s serve, at 5-1 in the first set, Draper had lost 2 points on his serve (both on second serves) had 0 double faults, and 4 aces. He held at 5-2 to take the first. He dictates so incredibly well from his forehand, using an inside out pattern to pick on Rune’s forehand. Off his other wing, Draper’s backhand reminds me of Kygrios’s backhand. Compact, flat, and solid. Now that Draper has put his fitness and movement in order, he does not have a lot of holes in his game. That showed in the first.

During the first half of the second set, it was the same story. You could see signs that Rune was trying to switch things up, such as chipping low to Draper’s backhand (a smart play against someone that hits so flat on that side), but he was not in control of enough points to even be tactical. You simply cannot implement tactical plans if you are constantly defending. This was Rune’s situation at 3-1 down in the second. In the second half of the second set, a key point in the match was at 4-2 (Draper), and Rune up 30-0 on his serve. In what appeared to be a loss of focus, Rune made three careless errors in a row to allow Draper back in the game. Draper breaks, goodnight Holger. 6-2, 6-2 Draper.

This match was never really close. From the get go, Draper controlled the majority of the points off his forehand wing, picking on Rune’s forehand. Draper matches up really, really well against Rune. Holger’s forehand sits up perfectly at shoulder height for Draper on his forehand. He loves taking the ball from that high point and driving it inside out. Combine this with his dominant serve (91% win rate on first serve points and 10 aces), and it was a recipe for disaster for Holger. Draper took the racquet out of Rune’s hands. As I noted previously, it is impossible to be tactical when the ball is constantly coming down your throat. The train ran straight away from Holger and he did not come close to finding the brake.

I see Draper having a fantastic summer season. I would not be surprised at all if he won another title, he has the power to still dictate in slower conditions of the summer stops, and will actually do well when the courts are grittier, where the ball will sit up more. Jack Draper - 2025 U.S. Open Champion?

ATP Highlights from Indian Wells:

Do you prefer Pepsi or Coke? Qualifier and ATP #349 Yosuke Watanuki crushed a can of Pepsi on the changeover before surging back from a break down in the second set to upset American star Frances Tiafoe in round 3. His average forehand speed increased from 77mph to 80mph post-Pepsi.
Continuing with the theme of upsets, this tournament saw many of them. Top ranked players Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic were both defeated in their first matches of the tournament. These were incredibly surprising results, especially with Zverev coming off of a major final appearance in Australia in January. Even more surprising, both upsets came through the racket of Dutch players, Tallon Griekspoor (d. Zverev) and Botic Van de Zandschulp (d. Djokovic). They are the only Dutch players in the ATP top 100.
It is a relatively rare sight to see a bagel on the ATP Tour. Even rarer when you drop the first set 6-1, and that is exactly what happened in the semifinal between Draper and Alcaraz. Draper ended up winning 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 to move on to his first Masters 1000 final. Incredibly weird score line.

WTA Highlights from Indian Wells:

At 17, Mirra Andreeva is one of the brightest stars on the WTA Tour, and seems to be doing it quietly. She came into the final of Indian Wells against Sabalanka on an 11 match winning streak, after winning Doha prior to this week. Sabalanka had only dropped 12 games in her previous 4 matches combined before the final. After dropping the first 6-2, Andreeva stormed her way back to take the second and third 6-3, 6-4. The difference was Andreeva winning 47% of her 1st serve return points in the third set. Tough to lose with those types of return numbers. Andreeva has one of the best all-around games on the WTA Tour. Her serve (6 aces in the final) combined with her fitness and court presence, make her a threat to challenge for grand slams for years to come. I would not be surprised if she takes home another 1000 event this summer, such as the National Bank Open with it’s gritty surface, or even the U.S. Open. Look out for Andreeva.
In a rare crack of her emotional armour, during her semifinal, Iga Swiatek showed a level of anger that would be relatively routine for most players, but odd for her. She struck a ball back towards a ball kid and her team, almost hitting the ball kid. Luckily for her wallet, she missed just wide right.

Canadian Corner:

Between qualifying, singles, and doubles, there were a total of 9 Canadian players competing this week at Indian Wells.
Canada’s best kept tennis secret is Gabriela Dabrowski. She is currently ranked 4 in the world in doubles, however, she was knocked out in round 2 this week. Carson Branstine (mixed) also played doubles this week, losing in round 3.
Denis Shapovalov, Felix-Auger-Aliassime, and Gabriel Diallo competed in the men’s singles main draw. Leylah Fernandez battled in the women’s singles main draw, while Alexis Galarneau and Rebecca Marino bowed out in the qualifying draws for singles.
Shapo made the longest run of the Canadians, winning one match after receiving a bye in round 1, before losing to a near perfect Carlos Alcaraz 6-2, 6-4 in round 3. Sometimes in those matches, you just have to tip your cap.

Elsewhere on the ATP and WTA Tours:

There were no other events this week on the main ATP and WTA Tours.
There was a Challenger 175 event down the road in Phoenix, Arizona, which saw some of the fallouts from Indian Wells compete, such as Nuno Borges (ATP #36), Reilly Opelka (ATP #114), and Kei Nishikori (former US Open Finalist and current ATP #76). Young Brazilian stud Joao Fonesca took the title, winning 7-6 (5), 7-6(0) against Bubalik.
ATP veterans Cameron Norrie (former world #8) and David Goffin (former world #7) competed in a Challenger 175 in Cap Cana, in the Dominican Republic. Aleksander Kovacevic took out Damir Dzumhur in the final 6-2, 6-3.
Drama in Arizona! At the challenger in Phoenix, in a hilarious, yet unsurprising moment of anger, Alexander Bubalik told Corentin Moutet “I don’t give a sh*t”, when Moutet asked him to give him more time to set up for his return. Kind of fair, because as the rule goes, play to the server’s pace.

ATP Rankings Update:

Big Movers:

Coming off of his big win in Indian Wells, Jack Draper moves up 7 spots to world #7.
One of the most exciting up and comers on tour, Brazlian Joao Fonesca, moved up 20 spots to #60 after a Challenger title in Phoenix.
Kei Nishikori moved up 12 spots to world #64. We love to see Kei making a comeback.

WTA Rankings Update:

Big Movers:

Miira Andreeva is up 5 spots to #6, after her title in Indian Wells, the biggest in her young career.
After making quarters in Indian Wells, Belinda Bencic of Switzerland moved up
12 spots to #45.
Sonay Kartal of the United Kingdom moved up 20 spots to #63 after making the round of 16 at Indian Wells.

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