THANK EVANS FOR DAN
Four-hour effort gets GB off to flier but Norrie goes down
It was just as well that Dan Evans chose this Davis Cup match to bring the best performance he has shown since his comeback from tennis’s naughty step.
the 28-year-old Brummie had already banked a surprise early point for Great Britain against Uzbekistan before acting No 1 Cameron Norrie went down to an agonising defeat last night to leave the match in the balance at 1-1.
If ever there was a day to illustrate the fascinating impact of what playing in national colours, and a team environment, can do to two players then this was it.
Evans had puffed his chest out and excelled himself by overcoming world No 60 Denis Istomin 7-6, 4-6, 0-6, 6-4, 7-5 in four hours and 11 minutes. the tie looked effectively sealed and nobody foresaw what happened next.
Norrie, who had sensationally beaten Spain’s Roberto Bautista-Agut on his debut in February, suddenly found out what it was like to be the No1 player and be freighted with expectation.
Having had a match point in the tiebreak against world No 434 Jurabek Karimov, he lost 0-6, 5-7, 7-6, 6-2, 6-2, paralysed by cloying fear with captain Leon Smith on the sidelines unable to soothe the sudden onset of nerves.
He had been 4-2 up in the third against the raw — but clearly talented — Karimov, formerly a top-ten junior. It was a calamitous loss for the world No 70, thrust into service as the lead singles player in the absence of Andy Murray and Kyle Edmund.
Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot now surely have to win this afternoon’s doubles rubber after the most numbing momentum switch. Norrie, whose father is from Glasgow, has experienced both ends of this competition, which is undergoing major change next year.
His defeat was eerily reminiscent of Jeremy Bates losing to Romania’s Razvan Sabau at Didsbury in 1994, a GB horror story renowned among Davis Cup aficionados.
Evans’s summer began with his comeback from suspension down the road at Scotstoun before a smattering in the small stand for the qualifying rounds at a Challenger event, and this time he was in front of an assembly nearly 5,000-strong.
All that is at stake in this stage of transition is whether GB gets a seeding for next February’s eliminator round, although you would not have known it as Evans tried to close out a sixth match point against a player who has done something the absent Murray has never managed — beating Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open.
this was a reward for coming through the empty days of the ban, and the hard work that has been required to bring his ranking up to No 222 with minimal wildcard assistance.
‘It was a tough time,’ admitted Evans. ‘I had to live a pretty boring life — sheltered, no real existence, or importance.’
He also admitted to concern about how the crowd would respond on his return from the controversy.
‘I was nervous to see how people might react when I came back to play,’ he confessed. ‘Obviously opinions differ on what I did.
‘Everyone I played in front of, not just here, have been great. Especially the players on tour.
‘I am nowhere near back yet, I am only below 200 in the world. I still have doubts now if I will get back. I guess that is pretty normal but days like this you see there is light at the end of the tunnel.
‘You keep yourself going for days like today. I might not get in the team next time, so I’ll have to remember this one.’
this was Evans’s 41st match since he stepped back on court on April 28 at Scotstoun, which includes the five that it took in a fruitless bid to qualify for Wimbledon.
Last weekend, Istomin won a strong Challenger event in Chicago, and while imbued with that confidence he was occasionally sluggish against the neat all-court game of the British player, pressed into service in the absence of Murray and Edmund, whose noshows depressed the attendance.
Evans should have won the second set, creating ample break points to do the job.
By the time Istomin somehow levelled, the home player had
managed to clinch only one in 13 of them.
The disappointment weighed and he crumbled in the third, winning only seven points.
Continually buoyed by the loyal following — many of whom are unhappy with the coming changes — Evans took the fourth with a break to love at the end of it.
He had not played a five-setter since narrowly losing to eventual champion Stan Wawrinka at the 2016 US Open, but fashioned six match points when the Uzbek served at 5-6 down in the decider. Five went begging in the last game until Evans delivered a stinging return that was unplayable.