Mirra Andreeva and Jack Draper win breakthrough titles at Indian Wells: What did we just witness?

To borrow a phrase: What did we just witness in Indian Wells?

Was it a one-off? A revolution? An expansion of tennis’s recent youth movement? Some combination of all those things?

Only time will tell, of course, but for now the convincing title runs that Mirra Andreeva and Jack Draper made in the desert feel like a pair of new beginnings for the ATP and WTA. That may be because they resemble another pair of new beginnings from a few years ago.

In the spring of 2022, Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek tore through the Sunshine Double, and made it clear they were both heading for No. 1 on their respective tours. In the three years since, they’ve won nine major titles.

I’m not saying Andreeva and Draper are going to rise that far, that fast. But it’s clear, in the Brit’s case, that his stock just shot a lot higher. It’s even clearer, in the Russian’s case, that her journey toward Grand Slam success just kicked into overdrive, and went from a distant possibility to an immediate one.

In 2022, Alcaraz and Swiatek began their surges with two lower-profile wins in February—his in Rio, hers in Doha. The same was true for the 23-year-old Draper and the 17-year-old Andreeva—he made a final in Doha last month, while she won a title in Dubai. But that still didn’t prepare us for how thoroughly they were able to impose their games on some of the sport’s toughest competition in Indian Wells.

The latter is especially true of Andreeva; the strength of her opponents makes it impossible to say this was a fluke. She beat each of the women who, as of last year, were being hailed as the WTA’s answer to the Big 3: Elena Rybakina, Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka.

Andreeva demolished Rybakina in 64 minutes, but it was the latter two wins—back to back against No. 2 and No. 1—that were the most impressive. In both cases, she took her top-ranked opponents’ best shot and found a way to send back something better.

In the final against Sabalenka, Andreeva played an opponent who had “killed” her twice already in 2025. And she killed her in the first set on Sunday as well, 6-2. Again, though, Andreeva took a bathroom break and came back a much more collected and thoughtful player.

It started with her serve—she made 80 percent of her first serves in the second set. Then her return began to click—she broke Sabalenka for the first time with a scorching forehand return winner. Then she felt free to bring her whole repertoire out: Drop shots, slice forehands, towering lobs, backhands that hugged the sidelines and forehand angles that grew sharper with each game.

Against Swiatek and Sabalenka, Andreeva showed a knack for adjusting, for believing in her ability to use a Plan B, and for rising to her opponent’s level.

“The whole match I felt super nervous,” she said of her 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Sabalenka. “After the first set, I just realized, that, ‘Oh, well, what I do now, it doesn’t work, so I have to change something.’

“In the second set, I tried to play a little bit more aggressive. I didn’t try to overhit her, because I don't think anyone can overhit Aryna, because she’s super-powerful player. I tried to really create something to make her uncomfortable, and point by point, game by game, I managed to do that.”

Draper’s run was more unexpected. He’s 23, rather than 17, and his progress has been stalled by injuries. But here at last we could see his talent in full. His serve is now as lethal as any on tour, his movement has improved, he’s playing farther up in the court, and he can hit winners from both wings, either crosscourt or down the line. The bouncy surface was also tailor-made for his fizzy, high-kicking forehand. Andreeva and Draper both have a lot of shape on their forehands, which helped their causes in Indian Wells.

Most impressive was Draper’s mentality. He faced three Americans, Jenson Brooksby, Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton, but didn’t appear at all fazed by the pro-U.S. crowds. And when he lost a 6-0 second set to Alcaraz in the semis, he shrugged it off quickly enough to win the third. Overall, Draper, who beat four players ranked ahead of him, played the type of first-strike, clampdown tennis that should allow him to take the racquet out of most opponents’ hands. In the final, Holger Rune, ranked 13th in the world, was overmatched from the first ball.

“I knew that Holger was going to come out and be playing some really good tennis, so I needed to be aggressive and play to win from the first ball,” Draper said after his 6-2, 6-2 victory on Sunday. “I did an amazing job of that. I didn’t allow him to play. I felt like I dictated the match really well.”

When they were done winning their titles, Andreeva and Draper also gave a glimpse of their winning personalities.

Andreeva is naturally funny and giggly, with a wry undertone. In her trophy speech, she admitted to being “a little brat” with her coach, Conchita Martinez, and finished with some comical—and not-unhealthy—positive self-reinforcement.

“I would like to thank myself for fighting until the end and for always believing in me,” Andreeva said.

Draper’s appeal, by contrast, is his down-to-earth genuineness and modesty. He turned to Rune afterward and said it was an honor to share the court with him. When he was asked what it felt like it make the Top 10 and win his first Masters 1000 title, he said this:

“It’s an emotional feeling to know how much you’ve gone through and put in, so to be here now to say I’m gonna be seven in the world tomorrow, I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”

“All the work I’ve done over the last few years, it feels like it’s coming together on the big stage.”

We’ll see just how big those stages get for Draper and Andreeva, and how well they perform on them, in the months ahead.