Davenport’s son Leach excited about his moment at Indian Wells: ‘It feels surreal’ | ATP tour | Tennis

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Davenport’s son Leach excited about his moment at Indian Wells: ‘It feels surreal’

Leach, a college standout, reflects on favorite Indian Wells memories
March 2, 2026

Lindsay Davenport won the Indian Wells singles title in 1997 and 2000, well before her son, Jagger Leach, was born. Now it is Leach who gets the chance to shine at the BNP Paribas Open.

The 18-year-old, a freshman at Stanford University, will compete in an ATP Tour qualifying event for the first time at the first ATP Masters 1000 event of the season. It’s a fitting location, as the Californian has spent nearly every month of his life in Indian Wells, from the days that followed with his mother, who coached Madison Keys, to competing in a junior tournament at the same location.

“Some of my best memories are when I was seven years old and I would run around and look for open practice ranges with my dad,” Leach said of his father, former pro Jonathan Leach. “When my mom coached Madison, we could go to the practice courts, and if she finished her practice seven minutes early, my dad and I would jump on and hit that seven minute mark, and we’d walk around.

“We’d see another pro finish 10 minutes before their practice time was up, and we’d try to score those 10 minutes and just kind of goof around. And that was a lot of fun. I have great memories of that.”

Leach has images at Indian Wells from before he was a teenager: on the field, at a players’ dinner with Keys and around the grounds. This tournament was a big part of his childhood.

“When I was young, I had access to the pro players lounge where they have the Pop-A-Shot games,” Leach said. “I would hang out there and have lunch and play Pop-A-Shot and just be around. It was an incredible experience. I loved the food there.”

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The American rose to No. 4 in the ITF Junior Rankings and was a junior qualifier for the ATP Next Gen Accelerator. But for now, Leach is focused on playing college tennis at Stanford. On Sunday, the Cardinal defeated Duke in North Carolina and Leach then flew to California for the biggest opportunity of his young tennis journey.

“The experience has been incredible. I love my teammates and my coaches here at Stanford. I love the campus and the campus life. And one thing that’s been incredible among a lot of things is being part of a team. That’s been the most incredible experience,” Leach said. “Normally in tennis you are alone on the court. And when you go to tournaments and travel around, you may have friends and people that you like to spend time with, but at the end of the day they are your competitors and no one really encourages you and supports you and wants you to succeed.

“I think one thing about being on a college team is that I have nine other players who really want me to succeed and push me every day to try to get better.”

Leach, a wildcard, will have plenty of local support on Monday night when he takes on 14th seed Tomas Barrios Vera in the first qualifying round. The young American has been involved in tennis at a high level all his life, but this is different.

“It’s super cool. And it’s an incredible experience that I’m going to cherish and hopefully I can continue to improve, and I can get to a place where I’m playing these tournaments again and it’s not as intimidating and I’m so impressed,” Leach said. “That’s the ultimate goal. But right now it’s intimidating. It’s super cool. They seem like superheroes. Sinner and Alcaraz, their tennis is just on another planet. And luckily I don’t have to worry about them during the qualifiers, but to be with them and be in the same locker room and know that I’m going to play in the same tournament, it feels surreal.”

“It would be incredible to ever get the chance to play against one of them.”