TENNIS: BRITAIN’s new star on the courts Dan Evans believes his exploits at the Australian Open will stand him in good stead for the rest of the season.
The 26-year-old, from Solihull, produced a string of shock results in Melbourne last week to reach the fourth round of the competition – the furthest he has ever reached in a grand slam event.
A series of sensational performances saw Evans beat Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis, world number seven Marin Cilic and Bernard Tomic to set up a fourth round clash against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga with a place in the quarter-final up for grabs.
But the Frenchman, ranked number 12 in the world, proved one challenge to far for Evans who despite winning the first set, went on to lose 3-1 on Sunday.
“He was so physical,” said Evans. “To win the first set took too much out of me. Tsonga launches himself round his forehand, just smashes it by me pretty much.
“I need to maybe get a bit fitter. I think I was flagging pretty much after the first set. I did feel that. My body was sore. Maybe that’s something I can improve on a bit.
“But, you know, I’ve still come a long way from where I was last year.”
Evans made quite an impact down under both on and off the court after making it through to the last 16 at a grand slam for the first time in his career, which will propel the Brit into the top 50 in the world for the first time in his career.
He made headlines for wearing £12 shirts during his matches, purchased from a local street store, he labelled a member of Bernard Tomic’s team an ‘idiot’ and he also had a run-in with former England cricket star Kevin Pietersen.
Asked in his press conference what has been his best moment of the trip, he replied: “Probably KP inboxing me. Wondering what is going to happen to his image. That’s probably the only reason he did it.
“But obviously the Cilic match was a really good one. The atmosphere. It was at night, that makes it a bit special.”
As well as banking £140,000 for his efforts, Evans is now likely to ply his trade on the ATP tour this season but next up he turns his attention towards Great Britain’s Davis Cup match against Canada in Ottawa.
“I think last week proved that playing the good guys, then coming here, it improves your game massively,” Evans added.
“I played some great players this week. That’s the main reason I play tennis – to get that sort of buzz.”
