Scruffy Evans digs deep to overcome Mcdonald
Wearing unbranded gear that looked like it had come from a charity shop, Dan Evans was scruffy and stroppy yesterday in his opening match at the Australian Open. He was also, eventually, a winner.
Evans started anxiously against 24-year-old Mackenzie Mcdonald on Court 14, the furthest-flung part of Melbourne Park, where the trams go rattling past every five minutes. It was almost as if the organisers had forgotten he was seeded here, having climbed to a career-best ranking of 32 this week.
Evans seemed to have forgotten, too. He scurried through the first 80 minutes, allowing Mcdonald to ping serves past him like Pete Sampras. Where was the British No 1 who had seen off two top-20 players in the ATP Cup in Sydney?
Not far away, it turned out. Evans is the artful dodger of British tennis, and he dodged a bullet here by fighting back from a two-set deficit.
His 3-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 victory represented the first time he had won a five-set match at a major, as well as the first time he had ever fought back from two sets down.
“I didn’t feel good at all when I came to the courts,” said Evans. “I was a bit sore. It just happens some days, I probably was a bit flat, but in the end I came through.”
Evans’s manky kit can be explained by the fact he terminated his most recent deal with Yoxoi, an Italian manufacturer, at the end of last year. It is unusual for a British
No1 to go without a clothing sponsor, but then he is an unusual character. Asked if he had any deals in the pipeline, he replied: “I’ve got a few things waiting, but it’s not a good time right now.”
At the end of the match, Evans patted his tummy pointedly. This was an in-joke aimed at Tim Henman, Britain’s captain at the ATP Cup, who had told reporters 10 days ago that Evans would be well advised to “miss a few meals”.
Evans has taken the comment in good heart, but he insisted: “I am in good shape. I have got strong legs and a good set of lungs.”
Kyle Edmund took a 5-2 lead over Dusan Lajovic yesterday, but his match – and the majority of the day’s schedule – was held over because of the seven hours of heavy and uninterrupted rain. The deluge has left the tournament behind schedule.
More importantly, though, it is likely to have quenched some of Victoria’s bushfires, along with the danger of drifting smoke.