Dan Evans claimed his “emotional” home win over world No.13 Frances Tiafoe showed he is not “nuts” to keep playing tennis.
And the British No.6 reckons his refound form on the grass deserves a Wimbledon wildcard on Wednesday.
Evans tumbled outside the world’s top 200 after failing to win an ATP Tour-level this year until getting a victory at ‘s-Hertogenbosch last week.
Given a wildcard for the HSBC Championships at Queen’s Club, the former world No.21 turned back the clock to beat the American 7-5 6-2 to reach the last 16. In the final game of the first set, he ended a 37-shot rally with a glorious backhand winner.
It was his first top-20 win since he beat world No. 12 Alex de Minaur at the 2023 Davis Cup.
In his courtside interview, Evans said: “Let’s be honest, this is why I’m still hanging around to get back on the grass and get some wins. It feels good.”
And the Brummie, now 35, later explained: “I was emotional. It’s been a long time since I played that sort of level, and I was really excited to play here. I still believed I’ve got that tennis in me, and I still believe I can do good things inside the top 100. But believing it and it happening is a lot different.
“That’s why I wake up in the morning to go to practice, to go to training. Some days you think: ‘Are you deluded, are you nuts, have you still got it, still got it in your legs?’ I think today showed I still have a bit left.”
After losing in the first round of Wimbledon last year, Evans said: “I don’t want to be coming back here asking for a wildcard. You can remind me of that if I need one next year.”
Reminded yesterday, the world No.199 smiled: “Yeah, it’s all in context. I didn’t want to take a wildcard off a younger guy, but I don’t think any younger players have been ripping up stumps to knock me out of the wildcard spot. So I think I’ve got a good shot again.
“I would hope the past 15 years has given me a shot at a wildcard. Not just at Wimbledon but I think in other events here.
“I obviously really want to play Wimbledon. I’m the first to harp on about the wildcards. It’s not just about one week or one match. It’s about what you do 52 weeks of the year.
“Tennis is not just about the grass court season in Britain. It’s great that we’ve got an amazing set of events, but there are other tournaments, and I haven’t been good enough at those other tournaments, but I’ve still been professional, still train day in, day out, so I hope that’s enough to get me a wildcard. If not, I’ll go through quallies.”
Cam Norrie failed to take two set points in the opening set tiebreak before losing 7-6 1-6 6-1 to world No.17 Jakub Mensik. The big-serving Czech took his first match point with his 20th ace.
British No.2 Jacob Fearnley needed only 67 minutes to beat Aussie qualifier Alex Bolt 6-2 6-4.