The Fort Worth Press - Defending champ Draper ready to ramp up return at Indian Wells

England's Draper halted Carlos Alcaraz's bid for a rare Indian Wells three-peat when he stunned the Spaniard in the semi-finals last year, then beat Holger Rune in the final.

The victory launched his rise to fourth in the world, but the oft-injured 24-year-old soon found himself hindered by elbow pain and after a short break followed by an abortive bid to play the US Open Draper shut down his 2025 campaign.

He skipped the Australian Open, returning to competition in a Davis Cup qualifier followed by a first-round victory in Dubai in February.

Now, Draper says, he's fit enough to go the distance in the tournament that started Wednesday, although with his lack of match play he knows a repeat would be a big ask.

"I wouldn't be here, wouldn't be in the tournament if I didn't feel like I could go all the way again," Draper said.

"That was probably the primary reason I didn't go out to Australia, just purely because if I'm going to enter a tournament, I'm going to be in the event, I want to feel like I can be physically ready to not just take part but to go all the way," he said.

"I believe in my tennis so much that when I get out there, I know that I can play some great stuff. I'm feeling like I have improved a lot as a player over the last eight months, but I do recognize that I have been away from the game, and it is a bit of a step up in level to just come straight back to it after that amount of time out of the game. So let's see what happens."

Draper, now ranked 14th in the world, will launch his defense against either Fabian Marozsan or Roberto Bautista Agut on Saturday, with Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic a possible quarter-final foe.

"My main priority is looking after my body, making sure that when I'm able to hit the match court that I'm fully prepared for what's to come," Draper said, adding that his previous injury setbacks had helped him manage his latest.

"I know from some of the injuries I have had in the past I have made mistakes coming back too early, and I think when you do come back too early, you can lose a lot of trust in your body," he said.

Draper said that wasn't an issue since he'd been able to practice during much of his layoff.

"I don't have any fear around my arm," he said.

W.Knight--TFWP