After turning his career around, Dan Evans insists he's here to stay - no matter what it takes
Exclusive: It's not always been plain-sailing, as the former enfant terrible admits, but after making his way back into the top 100 Evans believes he's ready for another big year
Dan Evans is prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice. The 26-year-old from Birmingham says he would be ready to move away from his home city, even leaving behind his beloved Aston Villa, for the sake of his career.
The one-time enfant terrible of British tennis, who in the past has been known to enjoy a night out or two, has been a reformed character for the last 18 months, having worked hard to realise the talent he always knew was there. However, he admits there is “a lot of temptation” to fall back into former ways when he is back among old friends.
“I could happily move away from Birmingham now,” the world No 67 said. “I always said I wouldn’t, but it’s becoming pretty evident that it would be better for my tennis if I wasn’t living in Birmingham. It would be an easier life not to be living where I am.”
For the moment Evans is just about as far away from England’s second city as you could get. He is playing at the Sydney International, where a 1-6 6-3 6-3 victory over Marcel Granollers has taken him into the quarter-finals of a tour event for only the second time.
Even if he loses tomorrow to Austria’s Dominic Thiem, the No 1 seed, Evans could climb back into the top 60 in time for the start of the Australian Open here next Monday.
It is quite a change from Evans’ situation 18 months ago, when he was ranked outside the world’s top 700 following a three-month absence with a knee injury. When he returned he played in what he describes as “terrible” Futures tournaments in Britain in order to climb back up the rankings. “They’re run terribly,” he said. “No one watches them.”
Evans admits now that the injury might have been a blessing in disguise. During his time off the court he started to wonder whether the knee problem would prevent him from reaching the highest level of the game - or even end his career completely.
“It was best not to think about the alternatives to tennis,” he said. “There aren’t many alternatives. That’s the problem. It wasn’t easy because I love playing tennis. It was difficult not to be on the court.”
He added: “Coming back wasn’t easy. A lot of people said that I didn’t like to do the hard work. I decided that I wanted to change that.”
Evans insists, nevertheless, that he has always enjoyed working hard. “The problem was that it used to be a question of whether I turned up to the sessions or not,” he said.
“Once I’m on the court or in the gym I know for a fact that there aren’t many people who work harder than me - and it’s always been like that. I’ve never been shy of hard work.
“I think I show that on the court as well. I’m fine to stay out there and play tough matches. I’ll do the running. I can guts it out. It was just that I wasn’t getting to those sessions. That was the issue. Now there are no missed days. Even if it’s just a little thing, it has to be done.”
He added: “There’s no better feeling when you’ve finished a session. It’s money in the bank if you put in that work in the gym or even on the court. That’s what will get you the wins in the matches.”
Now Evans is competing at a level where he thinks he belongs. “To get to No 200 in the world from No 700 isn’t that hard,” he said. “I knew that. It wasn’t a lot of points. It was getting from No 200 to No 100 that I hadn’t done before.
“It was a massive thing for me, but there were people in the top 100 who I thought were pretty average at tennis. I was hitting with people and it just didn’t add up that they were in the top 100 and I wasn’t.”
Evans broke into the top 100 for the first time last summer and reached a career-high position of No 53 after the US Open, where he had a match point in the third round against Stan Wawrinka, the eventual champion, before losing in five sets.
The Briton knows he has much to live up to after the best season of his career. “There will obviously be different pressures this year,” he said. “With my ranking there will be more matches that I’ll be expected to win.”
He has put in the hours over the winter with his coach, Mark Hilton, having spent a fortnight at the IMG Academy in Florida doing physical work as well as spending time on the practice court. “My fitness trainer was out there as well,” Evans said. “I did a lot of hard work – double sessions some days.
“I feel really good at the moment. I feel fitter, healthier. It also helps a lot mentally when you’ve put in the work. I know as well as anyone that when you haven’t put in the work there are doubts in your head.
“I was actually talking the other night to one of my friends and said to him that I was going to bed early. We were laughing about it and agreed that it’s not always been like that with me.”
Evans likes to think his best tennis is still ahead of him. “I would definitely like to make the fourth round of a Grand Slam,” he said. “That’s a big goal for this year.
“The Grand Slams are what I really look forward to. I like playing best-of-five-sets. The best player does win those matches. And it’s not just the best tennis player, it’s physically and mentally as well. That’s why I’m really looking forward to the Australian Open.”
He added: “If I stayed at this ranking for the next five years I would be happy as well. There’s no fooling me. I’m not going to be a world-beater. Whatever I do now is a bonus in my eyes. I’m in the top 100 and I want to stay there.”
Does he have any regrets about not having put in the work earlier in his career? “Not really. Obviously I wasted a lot of people’s time. That’s maybe the only thing. There are a lot of different paths that people take. I took mine. I just have to live with that. I guess I was lucky that I had another chance to get back up there.”
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