Indian Wells 2026: was Top 5 and returns with the help of Andy Murray’s former coach

Jack Draper will return to Indian Wells as the defending champion. After falling to 14th place in the world ranking after a long inactivity, the first Masters 1000 of the season will begin this weekend against the Hungarian Fabián Marozsan or the Spanish Roberto Bautista-Agut.

After an elbow injury suffered at Wimbledon last year, the 24-year-old Briton missed the Australian tour and already has very ambitious goals in mind.

This is what he said in an interview with TheAthletic: “I want to have a great year, but honestly, after what I’ve been through, I just want to get back to competing and playing regularly. There’s no reason why I can’t perform at my best, because I feel like I’m a better player than I was 12 months ago. I want to get back into the top 5 in the world before the end of 2027 and compete for the Grand Slams. It could happen sooner, but it’s easy to say I want it all now.”

He explained the series of changes in his game to avoid physical problems: “Injuries always happen for a reason and they made me analyze my work, my recovery, my eating and sleeping habits. “I worked a lot on my transition game, my volleys.”

Who did you do it with? Jamie Delgado, who previously trained Andy Murray: “He is someone without much ego, with whom I get along wonderfully, in whom I have confidence and with whom I hope to achieve great things.”

The Indian Wells main draw will begin next Wednesday, March 4 and, like the entire tournament, can be seen live and exclusively on DISNEY+ Premium Plan.