Dan’s the man for Great Britain
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 banked a surprise early point for Great Britain against Uzbekistan before Cameron Norrie went down to a catastrophic defeat to leave the match in the balance at 1-1 last night.
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.
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 No 1 player and be freighted with expectation.
Having had a match point in the third- set tiebreak against world No 434 Jurabek Karimov, he lost 0-6, 5-7, 7-6, 6-2, 6-2, paralysed by anxiety, 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-10 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 have to win this afternoon’s doubles rubber after the most numbing momentum switch.
Norrie’s 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’ 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 Andy Murray has never managed: beating Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open.
this was a reward for coming through the empty days of being banned for taking cocaine, and reward for the hard work that has been required to bring his ranking up to No 222 with minimal wildcard assistance
‘It was a tough time,’ he said. ‘I had to live a pretty boring, sheltered, no real existence.’
He admitted to concern about how the crowd would respond on his return from the controversy. He said: ‘I was nervous to see how people might react. Obviously opinions differ on what I did. Everyone I’ve played in front of, not just here, has been great. Especially the players on tour.
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 Kyle Edmund, whose no-shows 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 heavily and he crumbled in the third, winning only seven points. Continually buoyed by the loyal following in the arena, 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 bespectacled Uzbek served at 5-6 down in the decider. Five went begging in an agonising last game until Evans delivered a stinging return that was unplayable.