Britain’s No.3, Dan Evans expressed his frustrations after being eliminated from The Championships by Alejandro Tabilo of Chile, criticizing the unplayable conditions on Court No.12.
Around 5-2 in the first set, I wasn’t very happy. Obviously, the people, the ATP supervisor or ITF supervisor, whatever it is, they were happy with the court, so you sort of play on Dan Evans
The 33-year-old Briton suffered a 6-2 7-5 6-3 defeat in a match that began at 7:45pm on Tuesday and was suspended due to failing light and slippery court conditions midway through the second set.
Evans had raised concerns about the slippery conditions earlier, pointing out his previous knee injury at Queen’s, but his pleas were initially ignored.
“I’ve already been hurt on a wet court this season, I’m not willing to do it again,” Evans told the umpire, accusing the court supervisor of neglecting the players’ safety.
Upon returning the next day, the match was delayed by drizzle for an additional two hours, worsening both the court surface and Evans’ frustration.
Speaking to the press afterwards, Evans made his dissatisfaction clear:
“It’s sort of the second time it’s happened over the grass where I’ve ended up going on pretty late because of the weather, which has been frustrating. Obviously, my first concern is to be safe after what happened [at Queen’s].
“Obviously, that grass court wasn’t safe where I slipped. I didn’t think the court was playable last night for the large majority of the time we were on court. The powers that be in the fancy jackets didn’t agree with me and we carried on.”
Daniel Evans talks to tournament referee, Remy Azemar regarding the condition of the court watched by Alejandro Tabilo
(Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Evans reiterated his dissatisfaction with the court conditions, stating:
“Around 5-2 in the first set, I wasn’t very happy. Obviously, the people, the ATP supervisor or ITF supervisor, whatever it is, they were happy with the court, so you sort of play on. Yeah, in any normal time, I would have been probably fine with it. But obviously I know the sort of feeling, which is not a good one, to slip quite badly.”
Despite the setback, Evans plans to compete in the doubles with Henry Searle and aims to regain full confidence in his knee for when he partners with Andy Murray at the Paris Olympics.
“I’ll have to take some time after the tournament to work on obviously my knee, yeah, getting it stronger,” he said. “I didn’t get much time from when I did it to do the work it needs after slipping and the damage that occurred. But, yeah, it’s not ideal. It’s a work in progress.”
