Jack Draper has returned to Indian Wells for the first time since winning the title last year.
Draper beat Holger Rune to win the Indian Wells title in 2025, in what was a breakout start to the season for the Briton.
The 24-year-old has faced many struggles with an arm injury since then, with Draper only playing his first tournament in six months at the Dubai Tennis Championships last week.
As a result of his recent inactivity on the ATP Tour, Draper faces a lot of pressure at Indian Wells this year, but he has already confirmed two practice partners ahead of his title defence.
Jack Draper set to practice with Lorenzo Musetti ahead in Indian Wells
Draper played his first practice session ahead of his Indian Wells title defence yesterday, as he hit with world number 92 Alexander Shevchenko.
The world number 15 is set to return to the practice courts once again today, this time hitting with a much higher ranked player in Lorenzo Musetti.
Where will Jack Draper be ranked at the end of 2026?
Will he return to the top 10 or are you predicting him to drop down?
Like Draper, Musetti has also struggled with injury recently and has not played a match since he retired against Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open quarterfinals.
However, Musetti is confirmed to return at Indian Wells, where he has a lot less pressure on his shoulders than Draper.
Draper will be defending the full 1000 points at Indian Wells this year, while world number five Musetti has just 50 points coming off their ranking.
Both players will look to test their respective levels on Stadium 2 at Indian Wells, before the draw takes place later on Monday, March 2.
Who else is hitting the practice courts ahead of Indian Wells?
Draper and Musetti are not the only eye-catching practice partners featured on the practice courts on Monday.
Two of the title favorites outside of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are likely to be Alex de Minaur and Ben Shelton, who will be practicing together on Stadium 2 straight after Draper and Musetti.
One of the other intriguing practice partners from the ATP Tour are Joao Fonseca and Matteo Berrettini, while cousins Valentin Vacherot and Arthur Rinderknech will be hitting together as they hope for a repeat of what happened at the Shanghai Masters when they both reached the final.
Who do you think will win Indian Wells this year?
Vote now!
There will also be some high-profile names from the WTA Tour hitting the Indian Wells practice courts, including former champion Naomi Osaka, who has been out with injury since withdrawing from her third round match at the Australian Open.
Osaka will be practicing with Qinwen Zheng, who recently returned from injury herself after undergoing elbow surgery last year.
Some of the other practice partners include Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina and Xinyu Wang, Madison Keys and Victoria Mboko, as well as Sloane Stephens and Donna Vekic.
The main draw at Indian Wells will get underway on Wednesday, March 4.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
