Jack Draper doesn't want to set any goals after winning the biggest title of his tennis career at the 2025 Indian Wells Open.
Most tennis players dream of winning big titles when they are kids. They envision themselves with Grand Slam or Masters trophies in their hands, and for a very small percentage of those that have such dreams, that dream once comes true.
It came true for Draper at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells, where the British player won the biggest trophy of his career. He beat Holger Rune in the final, lifting his first Masters title.
Winning in Indian Wells was a very important step in Draper's career. For the first time, he is a Top 10 player, currently ranked seventh in the world. He will have a chance to further improve his ranking already at the Miami Open, with the World No. 5 spot not being too far for him.
But despite winning his first Masters title and making a Top 10 breakthrough, Draper doesn't want to set any specific goals. While some would set their sight on a Grand Slam or making it to the Top 5, that's now how the 23-year-old Brit thinks.
Speaking after his win at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Draper explained that while he knows that having goals is important, he rather likes to focus on working hard towards his goals instead of setting them.
"Not really thinking about any outcomes, ranking-wise or events-wise. I feel like I have achieved a lot in the last year, and it's been nothing to do with setting goals."
"Setting goals and saying you're going to do something, it's important to believe it, but if you're not putting in the work and putting in the sacrifice and the days of consistency together, then you're not going to achieve anything."
Of course, Draper does have some goals in his tennis career, but he wants to be focused on being able to play at a very high level, regardless of whether he has a good or a bad day.
"You know, I try, me and my coach, we try on waking up each day and approaching practice, approaching everything I do in a very structured way and a very consistent way so that I don't have many bad days. So when I do maybe have a bad day, my level is still very high."
"So, obviously, I want to be a great player, and I want to achieve amazing things in this sport, but my main goal is to keep on improving and keep on knuckling down. I know there is a long way ahead of me. I'm very ambitious. I don't want to just stop here. I want to keep on going."