Dan Evans loves New York. He has enjoyed many fine times there, on the court and off. And the British No 1, whose rise through the world rankings has been stalled at 28 since the pandemic paralysed tennis in February, is eager to return to Flushing Meadows for the US Open, tentatively pencilled in for late August.
Evans thinks tennis has fallen behind other sports in returning to competition and he is not worried about playing behind closed doors, or being allowed to take only a trainer or coach with him. He adds with a smile: “Being in New York on my own, that’s not ideal, is it? I think that would be one step too far, to go with no support staff. But there’s been other sports which are back out there, and this might be tennis for a little while now, with no crowd. How long are we going to wait? Are we going to wait until we can have perfection?
“It’s time. There would be no bigger support for lower-ranked players financially than helping them with a grand slam. There’s a player-relief fund, but the first or second round of a slam, there’s nothing bigger than that. How good would it be for tennis fans to see Novak Djokovic and whoever in the semis of a slam? I’m only saying Novak because he has voiced his opinion. It’s not against him.”
Speaking in London on Monday afternoon while preparing for the start of the LTA’s British Tour in July and Jamie Murray’s NHS charity tournament later this month, Evans rowed back a little on earlier criticism of the world No 1, who had said he was not keen on playing in New York if his entourage was restricted to just one person.
“It wouldn’t bother me if the top guys were allowed to take two people or three,” Evans said. “If top guys really need extra people, then give them that. I would be happy to go there with one coach. I’ve even heard people talking about sharing a coach or a physio.
“You can’t underestimate what teams do for players. I’ve had good weeks when I’ve had just my coach there; I’ve had good weeks when I’ve had a lot of people. Players have their reasons; it’s tough to [criticise]. Look at when Andy [Murray] was quite reliant on a lot of people – they were all there for a reason and doing a good job for him.”