Skinny kid now has power to progress

DURING my spell working for the Lawn Tennis Association, I remember this skinny kid as a junior with a dream singlehanded backhand — Dan Evans. I checked out his match against Bernard Tomic on Thursday and was surprised by what I saw. He still has that stylish backhand, but he has changed physically. To me, there was always a question mark about whether he was going to be strong enough for the pro game as he is barely 5ft 9in. But it is clear he has been doing serious fitness work and changed his attitude, which I am sure is key to him making the third round. Can he continue against Tommy Robredo? I would make the Spaniard only marginal favourite for this match on a reasonably quick hard court. If anything, Evans, despite being smaller, has a bigger artillery than Robredo, who is extremely solid off both flanks but is not explosively powerful on his serve or groundstrokes. But Tommy is an extremely good competitor who never beats himself. Tomic faded away physically at the end and that will not happen this time. Evans must take Robredo’s time away, playing close to the baseline and taking the ball early, being aggressive. He has the power now, and that whip in his forehand is impressive. Winning that decider in the Davis Cup versus Russia in April against Evgeny Donskoy has been the spark. His talent says he should be top 50, but only if he keeps up this work when the spotlight burns less brightly.