\n<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“I was very happy with the week in Dubai,” Draper told BBC Sport.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“I was proud of just getting out there and competing hard and doing what I love once again. <\/p>\n
“Potentially it was probably a good thing that I wasn’t playing match after match after match.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
One of the perks of winning at Indian Wells is that you get to select the menu for the following year’s Champions Lunch.<\/p>\n
Draper chose steak and chips, which appeared on the menu as grass fed filet mignon with parmigiano truffle fries and a green peppercorn sauce.<\/p>\n
The women’s champion Mirra Andreeva opted for cheese pancakes with vanilla-honey mascarpone for dessert – and she wasn’t the one having regrets.<\/p>\n
“I’m not feeling too great about that choice now,” Draper said before the food was served.<\/p>\n
“I’ve got to practise in about an hour. When I said that I was probably very deep in a training block, and having a very strict diet.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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