Evans blows his golden chance
ANOTHER year, another sorry Saturday for British men’s tennis.
The search for Andy Murray’s successor continues after Dan Evans followed Kyle Edmund, James Ward, Paul Jubb, Jay Clarke and Cameron Norrie by crashing out in the opening week.
Two years ago, Evans was barely a footnote at Wimbledon as he sat at home serving a 12-month ban for cocaine. Here, he had a golden opportunity to become just the second British male since Tim Henman to reach the last 16 — but he bombed out in classic British style.
The 29-year-old got off to a fast start against Portugal’s Joao Sousa, winning the first set and breaking early in the second, before his fortunes unravelled.
In the biggest game of his career so far, Evans’ serve deserted him and Sousa fought back as his opponent took just seven out of 24 break points.
While Evans has become known as the bad boy of British tennis, Sousa is very much the golden boy back on his home soil. He was named GQ’s sportsman of the year in 2018 — ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo — and is represented by the same agent as the likes of Jose Mourinho and Ronaldo.
Now Sousa can lay claim to being the first Portuguese player to ever reach last 16, but his chances looked bleak as his early exchanges were punctuated with regular unforced errors.
Using his trademark one-handed backhand, Evans broke serve in the first set and took control of the game from the baseline. Some of his shots showed all the grace of a man who had spent Friday afternoon training with Roger Federer — as Evans had done in the blistering heat.
He wooed the crowd with audacious lobs, ripping shots down the line and teasing slices and he would turn to his closest comrades in his box — those who stuck by him during the dark days — to clench his fist as he seemed on course for victory.
Evans broke again early in the second, using his slice like a boxers jab before coming in with a powerful right hook. Sousa looked beaten, muttering at the umpire and standing with hands on hips. But out of nowhere, the momentum swung.
With a chance to go 5-1 up in the second set, Evans lost 11 out of 12 points and Sousa pulled the score back to 4-4. Suddenly, Evans was the man venting his frustrations, shaking his head and letting rip with his emotion as he threw away the second set with a double fault.
The third followed a similar theme. Pumped up and bouncing around restlessly, Evans broke early but lacked the control he showed in the early rounds.
Sousa again held his nerve in the latter points and, back at the Lawn Tennis Association, cheeks blushed as another Briton was heading for the exit of their own party.
Evans received a warning for swearing from the umpire but pleaded his innocence and fought for redemption. ‘I didn’t say a word,’ he argued, then levelled the fourth set with two breaks before the roof closed because of bad light.
Returning for the fifth, Evans broke serve to go 2-1 up but Sousa immediately broke back, by which point most of Henman Hill had been deserted.
It came down to who could dig deepest. After almost four hours, with Evans serving to stay in the match, the Brit flopped his shot into the net and a nation’s hopes came crashing down.