Roger Federer says he can understand why Dan Evans may feel frustrated after comfortably beating the British star in the third round of the US Open.
Evans was forced to wait a day to play his second-round clash with Lucas Pouille after rain at Flushing Meadows on Wednesday led to the cancellation of several matches on the outside courts.
In contrast, Federer was able to play his match under the roof on Arthur Ashe and have the benefit of a day’s rest.
And that freshness played a key role when Federer and Evans walked onto the court as the first match of Friday’s schedule on Arthur Ashe.
Evans struggled to reproduce the level he showed against Pouille as he was outclassed by the five-time US Open champion.
After the match, it was claimed Federer had requested an early start to the match and Evans suggested the tournament wanted the Swiss to remain in the tournament.
And that led to Federer slamming any notion he influenced the US Open officials’ decision making.
But Federer did concede Evans was unlucky.
“Regardless of when he finished it was always going to be a competitive advantage for me. So there you have it,” he said.
“Now, is it a big difference if we play at 12:00 or 2:00? Not really. But I think at some stage every hour might matter.
“We have these rules in place, you know, 16-hour rules from semis to finals nowadays because of that reason, that you have maybe not enough time to physically recover but also mentally recover, you know, from the whole, I want to get into the next round and try to play Roger, and then it’s going to be a big match, and then you finally make it and then you have to get up for actually the match that you maybe were actually looking forward to.
“I have been there. I know what you’re talking about.
“Yeah, you could definitely argue that the scheduling was not in his favor. But it’s anyway not fair for me to play my match under the roof, get it done, sit back, relax the next day while he’s battling out a four-hour or a three-hour match, whatever it is, against Pouille. The problem already starts there.
“That’s tennis. It’s entertainment, and the show must go on. I’ve lost maybe matches this way. I’ve won some this time. Luck was on my side. There you have it.
“So, yeah, I understand if Danny is, like, a little bit frustrated.”