Draper's mother praises son after milestone win

Jack Draper's mother has praised her son for his hard work after the Surrey tennis star won the biggest title of his career to date.

The British number one, from Leatherhead, beat world number 13 Holger Rune in the Indian Wells Open final on Sunday.

It was the 23-year-old's first trophy at an ATP Masters event - the tier below the four Grand Slam tournaments.

His mother, Nicky Draper, said: "He's worked so hard for this. He's always been a really good player.

"But that doesn't get you too far. You've got to really put in the work and do it day in, day out, and just work on all the different aspects that you need in tennis."

Ms Draper, who declined a call from her son while on BBC Radio Surrey, added: "It wasn't straight forward, but in terms of other matches where I've been watching for four hours and literally [been] on a rollercoaster all night wondering what's going to happen, it was fairly straight-forward."

After beating Spain's Carlos Alcaraz in Saturday's semi-final and his straight-set victory over Rune, Draper climbed to his highest world ranking of seventh.

In an interview with BBC Sport, he said: "I'm incredibly happy, obviously, and incredibly proud of my achievements this week."

Draper, who went to Reed's School and Parkside School in Cobham, started his training at Sutton Tennis Club before joining the Weybridge Tennis Academy when he was five.

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