Evans eager to help create history
Dan EVanS tells his Twi tt e r fo l l o wer s , through his bio, that he is ‘here for a good time, not a long time.’ For the next three days that involves trying to get Great Britain through to its first Davis Cup final since 1978 by seeing off australia.
Having only been added to the squad on Tuesday the colourful Evans, currently ranked 300 in the world, is the unlikely choice to support world no 3 andy Murray in trying to take down the third Grand Slam nation in a row.
It is another remarkable turn of events in the undulating career of the 25 year-old from Birmingham, who was the forgotten man of the British game when the USa were beaten in March’s first round.
nursing a knee injury and weighing up his future, he was watching on television as James Ward, the man he has now replaced, dramatically defeated american no 1 John Isner over five sets.
Evans (below) was in such a trough that two weeks later he failed to turn up for his first round match at a Futures event on the Wirral and was fined. He eventually started back in Egypt, and since Wimbledon has been in such good form that he has won 29 out of 33 matches, but at well below main aTP Tour level.
‘My knee was feeling pretty sore and nothing was going the way I wanted it to go,’ he recounted. ‘In January, I played two Futures events and they didn’t go very well, my knee was still giving me trouble. I started doing exercises on it and not playing, and l ost a bit of momentum and motivation. Then I started again when Wimbledon was coming round and there’s always good opportunities.
‘It’s not very pretty playing in Egypt or in pre- qualifying for Wimbledon. The courts in Egypt are a proper shambles, it’ s borderline tennis. I’ ve come through stronger for that.
‘ I t was amazing watching i t when Wardy (James Ward) beat Isner here. I was happy for him, although everyone who c o mpe te s wants that to be them.’
now it could be. Having won the lower tier nottingham Futures event on Sunday, Evans pulled out of a trip to play in Turkey and got a message from GB Captain Leon Smith, asking him to join the squad on Tuesday after Kyle Edmund suffered a minor ankle injury.
He duly impressed in practice, and the courts here are low bouncing that suit his stylish all - court game perfectly. not only that, but he beat australian no 1 Bernard Tomic at the US Open two years ago, having taken out Kei nishikori in the first round, which is a measure of his talent.
Evans has also won deciding Davis Cup rubbers twice against decent opposition, Russia and Slovakia. In the former case he was also a late call-up based on a hunch of Smith’s, despite the player’s frank admission at the time that ‘I probably don’t train hard enough’. While his i s an i ntriguing selection debate, the fact remains that winning this tie — the biggest since GB were last in the semi-finals, in 1981 — should rest largely on the shoulders of Murray, and his older brother Jamie. Having emulated Fred Perry by breaking Britain’s Grand Slam drought, Murray wants to do so again by winning the sport’s premier team event for the country, for what would be the first time since 1936.
It would be the most unlikely tennis tale of the year, but is entirely possible. This weekend’s winners will face either Belgium or argentina.