British tennis saved by Emma
ANGRY EVANS’ VOLLEY FOR THE LTA
DAN EVANS has claimed Emma Raducanu’s US Open triumph “papered over the cracks” in British tennis after only three men made the singles at this year’s French Open.
And the British No.2 launched an extraordinary personal attack on former LTA stat man Simon Timson, who is now performance director at Manchester City.
With Andy Murray preparing for the grass-court season, Evans, Cam Norrie and Jack Draper are the lone British singles representatives at the claycourt Slam after 10 lost in qualifying.
Raducanu (top) would have been eligible but she is recovering after wrist and ankle surgery so no
British woman is playing in the singles at a Major for the first time since the 2009 US Open.
Raducanu’s 2021
New York triumph seemed to herald a brave new dawn in
British tennis but she is still British
No.1 despite falling to world No.106.
“Has her success papered over the cracks? Yeah,” said No.20 seed Evans (above). “We’ve been lucky, or they’ve been lucky that they had a Grand Slam champion and she was a very good tennis player but the rankings don’t lie, do they? Men’s or women’s, the rankings don’t lie.
“I think the grass last year really helped paper over some cracks as well. After the grass, there will be a bit of soul-searching, I imagine, after their holidays and after the grass.”
Evans, who faces Aussie wild card Thanasi Kokkinakis in the first round tomorrow, served a one-year ban after testing positive for cocaine in 2017.
He added: “You’ve got to work hard. I know what it’s like to not work hard and what you get from that and I know what it’s like to work hard and get decent rewards.” But asked how he felt about the state of British tennis, the Aston Villa fan claimed: “I couldn’t give a s*** about it.
“You’ve got a guy called Simon Timson, who sat next to me after I came back from my drug ban and told me: ‘With all due respect to James Ward and Heather Watson, I put you three in the same bracket. You are close to finishing your career.’
“And I said: ‘Thanks, man.’ I seem to have done all right since that meeting. He sent me to a psychologist, that was about it. He didn’t know what he was watching.”
Timson worked as performance director at the LTA from 2016-20 before joining the Premier League champions.
British No.1 Norrie, winner of the Lyon Open title last year, lost 6-3 6-0 to Argentine Francisco Cerundolo in the semi-finals yesterday.
The Wimbledon semi-finalist said: “It was a difficult way to go out but he played better than me and deserved the win.” Norrie will meet Frenchman Benoit Paire in the first round in Paris.