Jack Draper names the toughest opponent he has ever faced on the ATP Tour who produced a level he had never seen

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Jack Draper has played against some of the best ATP players at the biggest tournaments already in his young career.

Draper has played Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, with both of those encounters coming at Grand Slam tournaments.

A lot of his biggest career matches came at one of his most recent tournaments, where Draper won the Indian Wells title.

This run included a victory for Draper over Carlos Alcaraz, but the Brit has not always had his way against the four-time Grand Slam champion.

Jack Draper names the toughest ATP opponent he has ever played

The 2025 tournament was Draper’s third appearance at Indian Wells, with his first coming back in 2023.

In that run to the fourth round, Draper beat Andy Murray in their only ever match on the ATP Tour.

After overcoming his compatriot, Draper would play top seed Alcaraz for a place in the Indian Wells quarter-finals.

Draper was forced to retire in the second set of that match due to an abdominal issue, but has since looked back on that encounter and praised Alcaraz’s level.

Alcaraz won the first set, 6-2, with Draper telling the Tennis Brothers YouTube channel that he had never experienced anything like the tennis that his opponent was firing at him.

“Couple of years ago I played Alcaraz at Indian Wells,” said Draper. “I was injured so had to pull out in the second set but what was coming at me that day, I had not experienced a level of tennis higher than that.

“When I was playing against Carlos I was hitting big balls and he was just stepping in and lacing a winner past me. I hadn’t experienced that quality before.”

Alcaraz continued his level throughout the Indian Wells tournament and went onto win the title without dropping a single set.

Jack Draper says what it is like playing Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner

World number one Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz currently share the four major titles between them.

Draper, who has been a supporter of Sinner since his ban from tennis was announced, also spoke about what it is like to compete against two of the best players on the ATP Tour.

While he praised their level, Draper admitted that his mindset when playing Alcaraz and Sinner has changed since he first arrived on tour and explained what separates them from the rest.

“I think they are obviously unbelievable players,” said Draper. “When I first came on to tour I was thinking they’re outrageous, they are not going to do anything wrong. But even the best players in the world make mistakes still and can have ups and downs.

“The level of tennis they play is obviously very high but the difference between say 10 in the world to 300 is not crazy. But it’s just their experience and mental resilience to go again every single point and not let their level dip.

“And the best players are the best movers and those guys do stand out as being the best movers in the world.”

Draper has victories over both Sinner and Alcaraz in his career, but trails the head-to-head with the latter.

In his most recent meeting with the Italian, Sinner beat Draper in the US Open semi-finals last year.

Following Draper’s disappointing Miami Open, he will now spend some time away from the matchcourt to gear up for the clay court season.

His next tournament will come at the Monte Carlo Masters, with Draper having a potential opportunity to make his way further up the ATP rankings, as he does not have too many points to defend from last year.