By Tony Fairbairn
- Dan Evans admitted he is thinking about retirement from the Davis Cup team after Great Britain exited at the Group Stages
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – Dan Evans is pondering retirement from the Davis Cup after Great Britain’s ‘disappointing’ group stage exit in Manchester.
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It wasn’t to be for Great Britain as they exited the Davis Cup in the group stages and as a result means that Leon Smith’s team won’t be heading to Malaga. The week started in positive fashion for The British team as they recorded a 2-1 victory over Finland on the Wednesday. There were singles wins for Dan Evans and debutant Billy Harris as they overcame Eero Vasa and Otto Virtanen respectively.
Evans was up first as he took on the world number 697 Vasa and the Fin gave Evans a big scare in the first set with Vasa hitting fearless forehands and executing his gameplan well. The Brit was slow out of the gates with two break points being created on the opening game but as the match went on, Evans found his confidence. There was no easy points as Vasa played some aggressive points, saving three set points to force an opening set tiebreak. However Evans produced a strong tiebreak and stormed to the second set 6-1 to give the hosts as 1-0 advantage.
Next it was the turn of Harris who was making his debut at Davis Cup level and had to overcome a late resurgence from Virtanen. In the early stages there were no signs of nerves as Harris created two break points in the opening game and broke for a 3-2 lead. As the set went on Virtanen improved his level but Harris was clutch in the big moments as the Brit took the opening set 6-4.
The world number 102 carried on where he left off as he broke in the third game with some clinical returning. However the inexperience of Harris at Davis Cup was clear as he lacked that cutting edge in order to finish the match off as he wasted three break points in the seventh game. That would be costly for Harris as Virtanen produced an aggressive next game to level the set at 4-4 with the set being decided on a tiebreak. Harris remained calm and collected as he dominated the tiebreak to secure victory for Great Britain.
Finland did secure a consolation rubber as the doubles duo of Harri Heliovaara and Virtanen defeated Evans and Neal Skupski 7-6(4) 7-5 with the Brits lacking a clinical finish on return throughout the contest in a match that lasted two hours.
Next up for Smith’s side was a match against Argentina which would be the match that ultimately proved costly for Britain’s participation in Malaga. Evans maintained his place in the side as he lost 6-2 7-5 to Tomas Martin Etcheverry. It was a brutal contest as Evans produced some ridiculous defensive skills in the early stages but was ultimately broken twice against the clinical Argentinian.
In the second set Evans held his own on serve as he pushed for a crucial break although the net cord helped Martin Etcheverry to holds of serves. Eventually Martin Etcheverry’s pressure on return paid off as Evans was unable to sustain his level of play with the Brit broken in the eleventh game. A dramatic twelfth game was decided in a 20 minute game as Evans had three break points. The Brit couldn’t convert any of those break points as Martin Etcheverry claimed victory on his sixth match point.
As Argentina took the lead, it was the turn of British number one Jack Draper to level the tie as he took on Francisco Cerundolo in the second rubber. It was Draper’s first match since the US Open and it was easy to tell that was the case as Draper looked fatigued and a step slow in the opening stages against an ultra-aggressive Cerundolo. The world number 31 broke in the third game and showed no signs of letting that lead slip as his forehand did most of the damage.
Slowly Draper found his confidence from the back of the court and showed clinical anticipation to Cerundolo’s patterns of play. That was evident in the tenth game as Draper stormed to a break to love as he levelled the first set at 5-5 and the Brit held his nerve to force an opening set tiebreak. In the big moments, Draper struggled to find a consistent level as Cerundolo’s aggressive play secured him the tiebreak 7-4.
At the start of the second set Draper found his groove as he broke in the opening game and despite being broken in the following game with Cerundolo producing an insane drop shot, Draper managed to create six break points in the rest of the set. However the end product was missing for Draper with the US Open semi-finalist being made to pay the price for missed break point chances as Cerundolo broke to love in the final game to secure the tie for Argentina.
After the match Draper criticised the current state of the calendar as he revealed concerns for the future about player wellbeing.
“It’s my opinion that it’s going to be very hard for players of my age to achieve longevity any more,” Draper was quoted by the Tennis365 website as saying.
“It’s a mental calendar. Since Miami time (in March), I just haven’t had any time. We went straight into the clay, then straight onto the grass, straight to the Olympics, straight out to Montreal, Cincinnati, training week, US Open, here, then it’s Asia, then it’s indoor season.”
The team of Evans and Skupski gained revenge on their loss to Finland as they defeated Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni in a comfortable straight sets win to end the second group stage match.
All eyes were now on the final group stage match against Canada as Great Britain needed a 3-0 win to progress to Malaga. That scenario never really looked like happening with Evans once again required in singles, taking on Denis Shapovalov in the opening rubber. The match showed that Evans had played one too many matches as he was a step slow in a 6-0 opening set drubbing that lasted barely 25 minutes.
As the match went on Evans created more and more problems for Shapovalov but the Brit never really looked like winning the contest. After saving two break points in the ninth game, Shapovalov finished the victory in the twelfth game as British hopes were eventually ended.
There was still a tie to be won as Draper aimed to repeat his controversial win in Cincinnati as he took on Felix Auger-Aliassime. Draper had to save two early break points as Auger-Aliassime was always the player who dictated the match. The tension between the two players was palpable but Auger-Aliassime overcame some passive points to convert his sixth set point to take the opening set tiebreak 10-8.
After losing the opening set Draper obliterated his racket and provisionally that didn’t seem to help as the Brit was broken in the opening game. The world number 20 was never a player to give up easily though as he broke back for 2-2 and with the crowd on his side, raised his game when it mattered most. Unfortunately for Draper that didn’t prove to be enough as Auger-Aliassime killed the tie off by winning the last three games.
An underwhelming week ended with a feel good story though as Wimbledon champion Henry Patten won on his Davis Cup debut alongside Skupski as they defeated Gabriel Diallo and Alexis Galarneau in straight sets.
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Evans ponders Davis Cup farewell, Smith reflects on ‘disappointing’ campaign
There will be no trip to Malaga for the British team this time after losing two of their three matches.
It was a fatigued performance from the team which was summed up by Evans and Draper’s matches throughout the week.
An emotional Evans spoke about the week in Manchester and admitted this could be the last time we see him in the Davis Cup.
“It’s just disappointing,” Evans told The Guardian.
“Watching Jack walk out there with no chance of qualifying, it’s difficult and I have to – not live with it, it’s not that important – but I have to deal with that. It was frustrating to not give him a shot, I really thought I could have.
“There’s a good saying, which I wasn’t very good at when I was younger: ‘You’ve got to learn when to leave the party,’ I need to have a think. I’ve obviously thought about it before. I came here being a bit hurt before. If I want to, this could quite really be a week off for me if I wanted it to be. And it would be nice, obviously. But I love representing my country.”
Meanwhile there’s a lot of time to reflect for Smith who has been Davis Cup captain for 14 years.
Speaking after the week Smith admitted it was ‘disappointing’ not to go to Malaga but praised his team for the effort in Manchester.
“We’re obviously bitterly disappointed that we’re not going off to Malaga. It wasn’t to be – Canada were really strong today, I thought their singles players did really well,” Smith told the LTA website.
“I loved the week. Loved spending time with the guys, seeing some new faces. Loved seeing what Billy (Harris) did, that last match with Henry (Patten) making his debut. I loved playing here, it was great to see so many fans. Playing in front of 15,000 people is pretty unique.
“This level of competition, you need to take your chances – these matches aren’t easy. Not going to make any excuses. We had enough quality in our team to get over the line and we just weren’t able to do it.
“We’ve had a lot of highs and lows; we’ve had stuff in between but we just have to accept it.”
There is lots of reflecting for Great Britain to do as they are set to compete in February’s qualifiers unless they receive a wildcard to next year’s Finals.
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