Draper Explains Thought Process in Alcaraz Video Review After Facing 'Cheat' Accusation
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Jack Draper explained his thought process during the two video reviews in his semi-final match against Carlos Alcaraz at the 2025 Indian Wells Open.
Draper was part of another controversial moment on the tennis courts, but this time, a video review was involved. He was previously part of a very controversial moment when he won a match point against Felix Auger-Aliassime at the 2024 Cincinnati Open after a clear double bounce.
In Cincinnati, there wasn't a video review available, and Draper said that he wasn't sure about the call, even though his opponent insisted that, as a professional, he must know.
During a similar incident in Indian Wells, a video review was available. This time, "not up" was called after Draper chased down one of Alcaraz's drop shots, but the video review ultimately overruled the initial decision.
Obviously, both players were asked about the moment during their post-match press conferences. There were two reviews, and the second one was about Alcaraz's following shot, which he sent wide. Draper explained that he asked the Spaniard whether he was impacted by the umpire's "not up" call.
Obviously I felt like we do have the review here, and that's a really good thing. It was a tough situation because I obviously felt like I got the ball up, and then also, I know that Carlos had only just got to it, and he missed it wide."
"So I asked Mohamed to look at the video review and was it clear that I got it up? But then it was the fact that I don't think Carlos really had a good play on the ball, and he missed it."
"So I asked him to review that, to see what he thought of that, and then the only other thing after that was, I asked Carlos at the net whether he felt like Mohamed, when he interrupted, whenever that was during the point, affected Carlos' shot, because he missed it, but he might have missed it because someone might have said Mohamed might have called it and that put him off."
"But he said it didn't, so I think the call was right. I think it's really good for tennis that we've got the video reviews.
Draper also mentioned his incident with Auger-Aliassime. He previously said that he was hurt by the comments made by the fans after that incident, and he wanted to approach this situation the right way.
"Obviously, I went through it at the end of last year with Felix, and yeah, it was a tough decision and tough not to have the video review to see in that moment. So I think it was good that we had it here. Yeah, I think it was the right call."
"At the end of the last year with the whole Felix stuff, getting called a cheat and all this sort of stuff, but there was no review. There was no stuff. So, of course, it is something I try to do, try to be fair, and try to make the right calls. If Carlos would have said to me that it would have affected his shot, and what have you, then of course I would have replayed the point."
