Mutua Madrid Open Men's Final Preview
Who’s turf is this? That might be the first question we want to ask before this final, considering that there’s no head-to-head history between the 23-year-old Brit and the 26-year-old Norwegian.
Because the surface is clay, you’d be tempted to say the conditions favor Ruud, a two-time Roland Garros runner-up. Ruud has won 11 of his 12 titles on the surface, while this is Draper’s first final on it.
But there are different varieties of dirt, and different locations where it exists. Madrid’s mountainous altitude helps make its clay among the fastest anywhere. Its closest sibling might be the hard courts in the Indian Wells desert, a place where Draper just won his biggest title to date.
This isn’t to say that he has always found the Caja Magica so magical; Draper was 0-2 there before this year. But the ball has been bouncing up and into his high strike zone over the last two weeks, and he has been punishing it, especially with his lefty forehand. He hasn’t dropped a set so far, and has had two especially impressive wins: An eyebrow-raising 6-2, 6-2 rout of Tommy Paul, and a tougher grind against a true clay-courter in Lorenzo Musetti. Draper came into this clay season with momentum from Indian Wells, and a vow to do better on dirt, and now he has.
Draper credits an unimpeachable left-handed role model—Rafael Nadal—for his improvement on the surface.
“I think definitely things I can learn from the way he looked for his forehand, the way he dictates, and the way he bullies opponents, especially on the clay,” Draper says of Nadal. “I think that’s definitely something I’m learning how to do, look for my forehand more, and try and dictate what I’m trying to do, for sure.”
