FUMING DAN EVANS TAKES AIM AT WIMBLEDON OFFICIALS BY CLAIMING THEY 'DON'T CARE ABOUT THE PLAYERS' OVER WET COURT CONDITIONS AS HE SLUMPS TO FIRST-ROUND DEFEAT BY ALEJANDRO TABILO

Evans has only just returned from a knee injury after slipping on grass at Queen's
He lost his disrupted first-round match with the Chilean 24th seed 6-2, 7-5, 6-3

Dan Evans let rip at officials in their ‘fancy jackets’ after slumping to a straight-sets defeat over two days against Alejandro Tabilo.

The British No 3 was involved in a heated exchange with Wimbledon staff on Tuesday night when he argued it was too wet to play on Court 12.

Evans, who injured his knee slipping on the grass at Queen’s last month, feared for his safety on the SW19 surface, saying to supervisor Remy Azemar: ‘You don’t care about the players.’

Play was eventually suspended on Tuesday night because of the court condition and bad light, with Evans having already gone a set down.

Yet the Brummie was still angry with officials on Wednesday after losing his disrupted first-round match with the Chilean 24th seed 6-2, 7-5, 6-3.

‘It's the second time it's happened on the grass where I've ended up going on pretty late because of the weather, which has been frustrating,’ said Evans.

‘My first concern is to be safe after what happened. Obviously, that grass court wasn't safe where I slipped. I didn't think the court was playable last night for the large majority of the time we were on court.

‘Around 5-2 in the first set, I wasn't very happy. But the powers that be in the fancy jackets didn't agree with me and we carried on.

‘In any normal time, I would have been probably fine with it. But obviously I know the feeling to slip quite badly and it’s not a good one.’

Wednesday’s defeat continues a miserable year for Evans, who has won just three ATP Tour-level matches and has fallen to No60 in the world rankings.

The 34-year-old reached a career-high of No 21 last August after winning the Washington Open, the biggest title of his career.

Yet Evans then suffered a season-ending calf injury last October and has struggled ever since. He split with his coach Sebastian Prieto in May in a bid to revive his form, then suffered that knee injury at Queen’s which he feared would put him out of Wimbledon.

Evans declared himself fit enough to line up against Tabilo and things might have been different yesterday had he converted the break point he earned at 4-4 in the second set.

Yet back-to-back double faults saw him go two sets down, and he never looked like turning the match around despite the best efforts of the partisan Court 12 crowd.

‘To be out there today, I was really a spectator taking part,’ said Evans. ‘I did a good job to get on the court. But if you’ve not done the appropriate work for 10 days, these guys are too good.’

Evans will now turn his attention to the men’s doubles, where he will play with fellow Midlands star Henry Searle, the 18-year-old who won the boys’ singles title last year.

He will then prepare for the Paris Olympics, where he is teaming up with Andy Murray in the doubles for what will be the three-time Grand Slam champion’s final tournament before retiring.

‘I can't wait to represent my country,’ added Evans. ‘It will be special. But it’s quite far back in my mind at the minute. It’s been a frustrating grass court season.’

2024-07-03T21:01:50Z dg43tfdfdgfd