Jack Draper sealed an epic 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 victory against Carlos Alcaraz in their Indian Wells men’s singles semi-final, on Sunday. It was a blockbuster showdown as the British tennis ace came out on top, in a match riddled with VAR controversy.
There was a controversial incident in the third set with the score at 1-1, when Draper was called out by the chair umpire for hitting the ball after two bounces. But he asked for a video review, following which the umpire called for the point to be replayed, as his call caused an issue for Alcaraz. But Draper wasn’t having it, and requested a video review of Alcaraz’s position at the time of the call, and then the point was given to him.
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Jack Draper responds to VAR controversy with Carlos Alcaraz
Speaking after the match, Draper weighed in on the VAR controversy, and called it a ‘tough situation’. He said, “Obviously we do have the review here, and that's a really good thing. It was a tough situation, because 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.”
{{/usCountry}}Speaking after the match, Draper weighed in on the VAR controversy, and called it a ‘tough situation’. He said, “Obviously we do have the review here, and that's a really good thing. It was a tough situation, because 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.”
{{/usCountry}}Last year too, Draper was involved in a similar controversy, where he beat Felix Auger-Aliassime. The ball bounced off his racket and hit the surface before making its way onto his opponent’s side of the court, who was on match point. The chair umpire didn’t call the double bounce, and the British ace ended up winning the match. Later, he revealed he wasn’t sure what happened.
Draper will next face Holger Rune in the final, on Monday. Rune eased past Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals, winning 7-5, 6-4.