Holder Jack Draper will begin the Indian Wells sporting his most streamline look ever as the Brit goes into hardcourt battle wearing a menacingly short hairstyle.

“There is nothing like a buzz cut,” the No. 14 said as he gets serious about his comeback to tennis after eight months away with an arm injury.

“You don’t have to do anything. (I don’t know) what inspired the haircut.

“There are a lot of difficult (injury) moments, and when you come out of that and you start to feel better within yourself  I just fancied a fresh start.

But the British No. 1 added: “Not sure if it’s my best haircut or my best fashion choice, but something different is always good. 

“I think I’ll return to it again, but maybe I’ll let it grow for now.”

With fashion on the side, Draper is concentrating on his tennis. He returned to the courts last month with a Davis Cup win and advanced to the second round last week in Dubai before luckily flying out before the current crisis.

He faces the huge task of defending 1,000 champion’s ranking points from his win a year ago in the final over Holger Rune, also recovering from late 2025 ankle surgery.

“I’m still at the very early stages of coming back,” Draper said as he begins in the second round after a bye against oberto Batista Agut.

“I’ve been out eight months and these guys are out there on the tour playing week in, week out. 

“But do I believe that my tennis, and my practice, and everything is going really well and my body feels good? Absolutely.

“I’m just looking forward to getting back out there and getting the momentum back in my tennis. There’s no reason why I can’t go all the way.”

During his 2025 run to glory, Draper defeated top-five players in Taylor Fritz and world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz to book the final at the Tennis Garden in the Californian desert.

Main photo:- Jack Draper displays his “Buzz cut” at Indian Wells press conference – by ATPTour.com

Dusan Lajovic suffered insult and injury when the Serb needed medical treatment after crashing into a glass partition in Santiago following his Friday Davis Cup qualifying singles loss to Chile.

The 35-year-old ranked 123 was beaten by Tomas Barrios and suffered his mishap post-match; putting the Serbs in a delicate position.. 

Local media reported he suffered a cranial contusion, a cut inside the mouth and possible loose teeth as a  result of the collision. He was taken to hospital in an ambulance with his condition said to be concerning.

The match itself was not without incident, with Lajovic arguing with a belligerent fan and complaining about crowd noise during his serves.

Lajovic complained about the hostile ambience in a post-match media conference before his accident.

“It was tough to play here, where we knew we wouldn’t receive fair play, but that’s the Davis Cup and I don’t think the match was decided by that,” he said.

“Obviously, we were prepared for some provocation. Most people came to enjoy the tennis, but there were a few in the stands who were disrespectful…,” 

Lajovic also had words with the chair umpire over what he considered unfair conditions.

Jack Draper successfully returned from his injury lay off to secure a comfortable win over Norway’s Viktor Durasovic   6-2, 6-2 in front of a packed crowd in Oslo in a  Davis Cup qualifier

The British No. 1 has been recovering from an arm injury that has kept him away from action since Wimbledon in July.

Draper had tried to make his comeback at the US Open, but had to withdraw in the second round and then decided  not to travel to last month’s Australian Open.

24 year old Draper admitted coming into the tie that he’d  “been through some ‘dark times’ during his stretch away from the game, but feels that now he’s on the right track to get his season up-and-running.

“It’s really good to play here in Oslo and have my first match in a long time,” he said. “To get a point on the board for Great Britain. I haven’t played Davis Cup  in a long time so it’s good to be out here and I’m proud of my performance today.

“Just a lot of hard work, a lot of perseverance. It’s been a really difficult time since I’ve been away from the sport but I knew I had to keep on practicing my hardest and learning about myself. That’s hard work that no one sees and then when I come back hopefully I’m able to play some top tennis again.”

Cam Norrie won the second rubber getting the British team off to a perfect start ending day one with a 2-0 lead over Norway.