Dan Evans shows true colours with foul-mouthed reply to US Open exit | Tennis | Sport
Dan Evans refused to retire at the US Open despite illness and a hip injury and insisted: “I don’t give a —- if the scores says 6-0 6-0.”
The British No.5 set a record for the longest match in US Open history in the first round when he came through against Karen Khachanov in five hours and 35 minutes. And the effort caught up with him in the third round against world No.10 Alex de Minaur.
Evans took a pill on court before the start of the match and needed treatment on and off the court during the third set.
And after winning the second set tiebreak to draw the match level, Evans lost the next 12 games to go down 6-3 6-7 6-0 6-0 in two hours and 48 painful minutes. He won only three points in the final set – and only one of the last 19 – and he was even booed by sections of the Saturday night crowd in the Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Evans, 34, has only retired six times in 894 matches in his long career. And he insisted: “I wasn’t tempted to stop. I think it is about respect. I was relatively OK in the third set. It was pretty bemusing that they started to boo me when the irony was I was staying out there for them. And of course I respect Alex. I don’t think you should be pulling out in a Grand Slam.
“You finish the match. That’s just my way. And that’s how I was brought up. You stay till the end and shake hands. And he actually said, ‘Thanks for staying out there, respect’. And that’s not what I am doing it for. But people come into and pay and some are happy and some are not.
“After the second set, it reads: 6-0 6-0. But that’s by the by, for me, I couldn’t, couldn’t give a —- what if says of six love, six love. I stayed out there to fight until the last ball.”
Evans added: “It was a tough day, I was a bit sick as well before the match and then obviously my hip. Not a lot went right and that’s grand slam tennis, isn’t it? Physically I was fine, but my hip just just seized up and became very problematic at the start of the third set.
“It wasn’t ideal. And you could probably see I was sweating so much, which is very unlike me. It was just a tough match. It’s all connected to the first day. You know, it was my groin and my hips been been sore ever since, and it will be fine after a few days rest, yeah, few, few beers will help it as well.
“No, no excuses. I felt fine on the court. Kudos to him. He played great tennis. He didn’t, much, and I thought the first two sets were high level.”
Evans, who partnered Andy Murray at the Olympics, won his first ATP Tour level since March in the first round and will now climb up the rankings from world No.184 at his favourite Grand Slam.
“It’s just an amazing place to play tennis and I took it in,” said Evans, 34. “I looked around and I loved what I was seeing, to be playing in front of those people. It’s not going to last forever. We all know that. And it’s probably the first time I’ve probably looked around and seen people smiling and shouting and hollering at me. And it was all three matches – they have been great.
“I lost tonight. But I leave with with great tennis in my legs and and that’s a good thing for the rest of the year and the Davis Cup.”
Watched by his girlfriend Katie Boulter, De Minaur recorded his first win over Evans at his fourth attempt. He had claimed before the match he was only “80-85% fit” after the hip cartilage tear he suffered at Wimbledon but it did not look like it.
“The first thing we should show is a lot respect to Dan,” said the Aussie. “He is the ultimate competitor. He could easily have pulled out – his body was not feeling great – and I really appreciate it.
“We have had some great battles and he got the better of me in previous occasions so I am glad to get on the board.”
De Minaur is the first Aussie to reach the fourth round in all four Grand Slams in a year since Lleyton Hewitt in 2004 and will now face a Down Under Derby against world No.32 Jordan Thompson. “It is a pity we have to play each other,” he said.
