Dan Evans has criticised the state of British tennis and believes Emma Raducanu’s success has papered over the cracks.
There will only be three British players in the singles main draws at the French Open starting on Sunday and, for the first time since 2008, no women.
Of the 10 British players in qualifying, none made the final round, while 2021 US Open champion Raducanu joined Andy Murray in withdrawing having undergone surgery on both her wrists and one ankle.
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Speaking ahead of his first-round clash with Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis, Evans said: “They’ve been lucky that they had a grand slam champion and she’s a very good tennis player but the rankings don’t lie, do they?
“Men’s or women’s, the rankings don’t lie. Men’s, not many of us playing qualis, not many main draw. I don’t want to sound like a broken record. But there’s way further to go than just the top players. It’s from the bottom up.
“We’re in a massive, massive habit of sending people to college now. I don’t think that massively helps. It’ll be interesting. I think the grass last year really helped paper over some cracks as well. After the grass, there will be a bit of soul-searching I imagine, after their holidays.”
Evans has been a long-time critic of the domestic set-up and recently criticised some of his fellow British players for not competing enough and being willing to grind out life on the tour.
A late bloomer after serving a drugs ban and admitting to enjoying the party lifestyle too much, Evans knows well both the pitfalls and what it takes to achieve success.
The world number 24 said: “You’ve got to work hard. I know what it’s like to not work hard and what you get from that and I know what it’s like to work hard and get decent rewards.
“I’m not sitting here saying I know the answers. I have a fair idea of the answers and I would do it very differently to what’s happening now I think. There’s enough people playing junior tennis. We just don’t help them.”
Evans reserved his strongest ire for former Lawn Tennis Association performance director Simon Timson – now occupying the same role with Manchester City – who was the architect of a performance strategy that heavily funds a small number of players.
“It’s just heartbreaking that a guy next door to you is getting 70 grand or something, but you’re better than him,” said Evans. “But a guy with these stats is telling you, ‘No, no, he’s better’.
“You can look who has been on PSP (Pro Scholarship Programme, the highest level of support). It’s hardly flourishing reading is it? And that’s what I think we need to (do) – get a bigger pool and just pool it all in and get going. It’s simple maths. But Simon Timson, he was the mastermind of it all.
“I couldn’t give a s**t about it. Simon Timson sat next to me and told me, ‘In all due respect to James Ward and Heather Watson, I put you three in the same bracket. You are close to finishing your career.’ And I said, ‘Thanks man’. That was that meeting.
“And I seem to have done all right since that meeting. He sent me to a psychologist, that was about it. I told him that it was a stepping stone, the job, and that’s exactly what it was. He wouldn’t be there in three years and he wasn’t. He didn’t know what he was watching.”
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Evans is certainly an example of what can be achieved with hard work and the right attitude, and he will hope to continue his improvement on clay when he takes on Kokkinakis on Sunday.
The British number two has lost his last three matches but reached the semi-finals of clay tournaments in Marrakech and Barcelona.
He joked of his relationship with the surface: “We had a good week at the start, and then we’ve not been on talking terms really, sleeping in separate beds.
“No, it’s been good. I feel comfortable. I’ve been playing good. It’s probably helped having an Argentinian coach, little intricacies, which the British probably don’t know because they’re not so brought up on the clay.”
Cameron Norrie links up with coach Stephen Huss in bid to rediscover form
Cameron Norrie has added a new coach to his team as he bids to regain form in 2024.
Australian Stephen Huss, who won the Wimbledon men’s doubles title with Wesley Moodie in 2005, will work alongside Norrie’s main coach Facundo Lugones.
The British number one struggled over the second half of the season, losing 12 of his 16 matches following a second-round exit at Wimbledon.
Norrie told the PA news agency: “It should be good. I’m doing 10 to 12 weeks with him, more the practice weeks, to help me, to help Facu and just to keep things fresh and to have a different eye.
“I don’t know him too well but I’ve heard a lot of good things about him, and I think he’ll be really good for the team in general.”
Norrie has worked with Argentinian Lugones, who he met while studying at Texas Christian University, for his entire professional career.
He has also had help from experienced Lawn Tennis Association coach James Trotman, who now works with Jack Draper, and his former TCU coach Devin Bowen but has decided to bring in someone permanent.
“It was kind of both of our idea but more so Facu,” said Norrie. “I think it’s key to keep it fresh with your coach. I travel so much with Facu. We’ve never had any issue with that but I think it’s good to have someone else.
“I had that already, I had James Trotman from the LTA and Devin Bowen still helping me, still doing weeks, but they couldn’t really give it enough time for me. I was asking a lot all the time, try to do weeks with Devin at TCU and having him fly but he’s busy with the school and then Trotters with Jack.
“So it was difficult but it should be good to have someone else. It doesn’t really change too much with Facu, he’s still going to do a lot of weeks and he still wants to come to every tournament, which is great to have such a driven coach like that.”
Norrie, meanwhile, is getting ready to begin his pre-season training this weekend by hiking into the snowy French mountains and staying in a campervan.
The 28-year-old, who is an ambassador for Lexus and drives the RZ electric car, admits he will be well outside his comfort zone but is looking forward to the challenge.
“We’re going with my fitness trainer and we’re going up this mountain, sleep in his camper,” said Norrie, who is based in Monte-Carlo.
“One night, then the next day we have this big hike in the snow. He wants to test me a little bit. I’ve never really seen the mountains there.
“I love walking but I’ve not done a really long hike before. I bought some new shoes this week to get ready for that. We looked at the weather and it was minus 12 so I’ve got a big jacket as well. We’re bringing some food, some tea, play some cards. It should be good.
“I think it’s his idea to just change my mind, maybe leave the phone and just go and be in nature, see the mountains. He tells me it’s not the easiest hike. Hopefully no injuries. Then Monday he’s killing me in the gym.”
Norrie will kick-off the new season at the United Cup in Australia beginning on December 29.
Rafael Nadal to make his comeback after a year out at the Brisbane International
Rafael Nadal will make his comeback following a year out at the Brisbane International later this month.
The 22-time grand slam champion has not played a competitive match since suffering a hip injury during his second-round defeat by Mackenzie McDonald at the Australian Open in January.
Having initially hoped the lay-off may only be a few weeks, Nadal admitted in May that he was staring at the end of his career and that he hoped to be able to play a final year on tour in 2024.
He had surgery in June and has been gradually building up to a return that he has now announced will be at the Brisbane International, a key warm-up event for the Australian Open, beginning on December 31.
In a video on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Nadal said: “After a year away from competition, it’s time to come back. It will be in Brisbane the first week of January. I’ll see you there.”
The 37-year-old is currently ranked down at 663 having seen his 18-year stay in the top 10 end in March.
Brisbane will also mark the return of Naomi Osaka following the birth of her first child in July.
On this day in 2021: Johanna Konta retires from tennis
Former British number one Johanna Konta announced her retirement from tennis on this day in 2021.
Konta, then 30, had struggled with a persistent knee problem and slipped to 113th in the rankings.
She made the announcement on social media with a post headed ‘Grateful’.
She wrote: “This is the word that I’ve probably used the most during my career and is the word that I feel explains it best in the end.
“My playing career has come to an end, and I am so incredibly grateful for the career that it turned out to be. All the evidence pointed towards me not ‘making’ it in this profession.
“However my luck materialised in the people that came into my life and impacted my existence in ways that transcended tennis.
“I am so incredibly grateful for these people. You know who you are. Through my own resilience and through the guidance of others, I got to live my dreams. I got to become what I wanted and said as a child.
“How incredibly fortunate I count myself to be. How grateful I am.”
Born in Australia to Hungarian parents, Konta moved to Europe to pursue her tennis career as a teenager, settling with her family in Eastbourne and becoming a British citizen in 2012.
A relatively late developer, Konta’s emergence at the top of the game began in 2015, and the following year she reached her first grand slam semi-final at the Australian Open and climbed into the top 10.
Her best season was arguably in 2017, when she became the first British player since Virginia Wade to make the semi-finals at Wimbledon, won the biggest of her four career titles at the Miami Open, and peaked at fourth in the rankings.
Konta slipped down the rankings in 2018 but was resurgent the following year, making another grand slam semi-final at the French Open as well as quarter-finals at Wimbledon and the US Open.
Her final match was a three-set loss to Karolina Muchova at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati.
She made no secret of her desire to start a family – something she did not want to do alongside her career – and gave birth to daughter Emmeline the following September.
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