Good Evans: It’s Dan back with a bang after woes

Champ gets off to a flyer

Britain’s Dan Evans has revealed how some lonely practice sessions this time last year helped fuel his desire to get back to Wimbledon.

The 29-year-old is playing at SW19 for the first time since 2016 and he marked his return in style, beating Federico Delbonis 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the first round.

Evans was absent in 2017 as he was serving a drugs ban and then missed out on the main draw last year after a defeat in the final round of qualifying, having been denied a wild card by the All England Club.

While the rest of the tennis world was focused on the Championships, Evans was practising three miles away at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton.

His coach David Felgate told him that he would be back in 2019 and he has duly delivered, setting up a second-round tie with Nikoloz Basilashvili.

“I was practising every day this time last year,” Evans said. “We took nothing off and practised every day at the National Tennis Centre.

“Anyone who’s played Wimbledon and is not involved, or when a grand slam is on, it’s a difficult week to practice.

“Your head’s not there. You want to be at the tournament.

“It’s not easy practising, especially, I know it sounds stupid, but where the tournament is, like in London.

“It’s all about Wimbledon this week. I wasn’t part of it. It was difficult.

“He (Felgate) assured me that that week was important, to keep going.

“He said I’d be back there. I have to give him credit for quite a lot of the last year.

“I had a lot of people in my corner”

“It’s not easy when you’re starting back from nothing. Like I said before, I had a lot of people who were in my corner, stuck with me. They told me I’d be back here.

“If you don’t believe, it’s all right for everyone else to say it, but you’ve got to believe it yourself.”

Evans is deserving of his place back in the big time after an impressive run of form in the grass-court season.

He won Challenger events in Surbiton and Nottingham and then enjoyed a run to the quarter-finals in Eastbourne last week. Angelique Kerber started the defence of her Wimbledon title with a comfortable victory over Tatjana Maria.

Kicking off the action on Centre Court on day two, the German eased to a 6-4, 6-3 win over her compatriot in front of the watching Duchess of Cambridge.

Despite not winning a tournament since beating Serena Williams in the final at SW19 last year, Kerber has shown some good recent form, including reaching the final in Eastbourne last week.