‘A fresh start’ – fit-again Draper sports buzz cut for Indian Wells defence

British number one Jack Draper says he no longer has “any fear” around the arm injury that plagued him for eight months as he prepares to begin his Indian Wells title defence.

The 24-year-old has returned to the scene of his biggest triumph, having beaten Carlos Alcaraz on the way to winning a first Masters title 12 months ago.

However, a breakout year was curtailed by bone bruising in his left serving arm.

Draper only returned to the ATP Tour in Dubai last week, having barely played since last year’s Wimbledon because of the issue.

The world number 14 is also sporting a new look in California – extremly short hair, which is for practical and perhaps also psychological reasons.

“There’s nothing like a buzz cut – you don’t have to do anything,” Draper said.

“I’ve been out for a long period of time. Especially in an individual sport you become quite isolated, there’s a lot of difficult moments.

After a win on Davis Cup duty for Great Britain in Norway in early February – in what was his first match since August – Draper was advised not to play in Rotterdam the following week.

But when he did return to the tour in Dubai, wearing a black compression sleeve on his arm, he beat Quentin Halys before falling in three sets to Arthur Rinderknech.

“I was very happy with the week in Dubai,” Draper told BBC Sport.

“It wasn’t so much about my level, it was how I was going to respond to the matches, to the practice. That was kind of the final hurdle, really.

“I was proud of just getting out there and competing hard and doing what I love once again.

“Potentially it was probably a good thing that I wasn’t playing match after match after match.”

Draper beat back-to-back top-five players in Taylor Fritz and Alcaraz on his way to last year’s Indian Wells final, before overcoming Holger Rune to lift a first Masters 1000 trophy.

One of the perks of winning at Indian Wells is that you get to select the menu for the following year’s Champions Lunch.

Draper chose steak and chips, which appeared on the menu as grass fed filet mignon with parmigiano truffle fries and a green peppercorn sauce.

The women’s champion Mirra Andreeva opted for cheese pancakes with vanilla-honey mascarpone for dessert – and she wasn’t the one having regrets.

“I’m not feeling too great about that choice now,” Draper said before the food was served.

As the 14th seed Draper has a first-round bye, and will start his title defence on Saturday against Spain’s 2019 Wimbledon semi-finalist Roberto Bautista Agut.

With Draper defending 1,000 ranking points, he could drop outside the world’s top 30 with an early exit.

But he has been able to do a lot of work on the court during his absence and is hoping his return will gather some serious momentum over the next week or so.

“I’m still at the very early stages of coming back,” Draper pointed out.

“I’ve been out eight months and these guys are out there on the tour playing week in, week out.

“But do I believe that my tennis, and my practice, and everything is going really well and my body feels good? Absolutely.