Sorry GB look lost in France
ANDY MURRAY was at the other end of France, working his way back on the clay courts of the Cote d’Azur, but it was grim up north for his erstwhile Davis Cup team-mates. Rouen was the scene of a rare wipeout for GB in the competition as they fell 2-0 behind on the opening day.
For the first time in nine years Great Britain did not manage a solitary set in the first two rubbers as both Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans were overmatched on the indoor clay court laid at the Kindarena.
Short of a miraculous recovery over the weekend, this quarter- final will be where the 2017 campaign ends, not entirely surprising given the relatively scant resources available without the world No 1.
Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot will try and claw back some ground in today’s doubles, but there was precious little evidence that it might set up any dramatic reversal of fortunes tomorrow.
A couple of miles up the Seine from where the Brits burnt Joan of Arc at the stake, there only looked one winner in yesterday’s exchanges — although Kyle Edmund did forge a couple of openings against French No 1 Lucas Pouille.
Judging by his Facebook posts, the news looks encouraging for the younger Murray brother and his troublesome elbow, but this tie came a week too early for him. Andy will probably be back in action at the Monte Carlo event.
Edmund, more of a natural claycourt player than Evans, went down 7-5, 7-6, 6-3 against Pouille before Evans was overrun by Jeremy Chardy, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.
Chardy is actually the ninth highest ranked player in France, but such are their superior resources that they could make light of injured absentees Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet. On a court prone to a few wonky bounces, Edmund missed a forehand at 5-4, 30-30 in the opener that could have given him set point. In the second set he got to 5-2 and serving in the tiebreak, only for the dependable Pouille to step up and win it 8-6.
Edmund admitted: ‘I could have made some better choices but when it counted I didn’t get it right.’
Evans was playing his first claycourt match in nearly three years and was outgunned by Chardy, who justified his selection ahead of Gilles Simon, a more experienced Davis Cup player.
The acting British No 1 tried to play forward-moving, Tim Henman- style tennis, as promised, but Chardy’s sledgehammer forehand proved too potent.
Evans at least managed to prevent a rout after going 5-0 down in the first set, but this is not his natural habitat and it will take his game a long time to adjust. Evans afterwards described his first match back on the surface as ‘almost like playing a different sport’.
GB captain Leon Smith added: ‘It was always going to be a difficult match but there’s always a way back. It’s wrong to say we’ve lost because that’s not the mentality we have built up over the years.’
In Belgrade, Novak Djokovic made a successful comeback with a straight- sets win over Spain’s Albert Ramos Vinolas.
However, in an interview with the International Business Times, his former junior coach Bogdan Obradovic was outspoken about why Djokovic has struggled, in relative terms, for the past nine months, saying: ‘He practised less and meditated more than hitting the ball.’ Obradovic also suggested his fellow Serb had been on ‘funny diets’.