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Dan Evans has criticised the state of British tennis and believes Emma Raducanu’s success has papered over the cracks.
There’ll solely be three British gamers within the singles principal attracts on the French Open beginning on Sunday and, for the primary time since 2008, no girls.
Of the ten British gamers in qualifying, none made the ultimate spherical, whereas 2021 US Open champion Raducanu joined Andy Murray in withdrawing having undergone surgical procedure on each her wrists and one ankle.
Talking forward of his first-round conflict with Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis, Evans mentioned: “They’ve been fortunate that they’d a grand slam champion and he or she’s an excellent tennis participant however the rankings don’t lie, do they?
“Males’s or girls’s, the rankings don’t lie. Males’s, not many people enjoying qualis, not many principal draw. I don’t need to sound like a damaged document. However there’s method additional to go than simply the highest gamers. It’s from the underside up.
“We’re in an enormous, large behavior of sending individuals to school now. I don’t assume that massively helps. It’ll be fascinating. I believe the grass final 12 months actually helped paper over some cracks as properly. After the grass, there will probably be a little bit of soul-searching I think about, after their holidays.”
Evans has been a long-time critic of the home set-up and just lately criticised a few of his fellow British gamers for not competing sufficient and being keen to grind out life on the tour.
I am not sitting right here saying I do know the solutions. I’ve a good thought of the solutions and I’d do it very in a different way to what’s occurring now.
A late bloomer after serving a medicine ban and admitting to having fun with the celebration life-style an excessive amount of, Evans is aware of properly each the pitfalls and what it takes to attain success.
The world quantity 24 mentioned: “You’ve started working arduous. I do know what it’s prefer to not work arduous and what you get from that and I do know what it’s prefer to work arduous and get respectable rewards.
“I’m not sitting right here saying I do know the solutions. I’ve a good thought of the solutions and I’d do it very in a different way to what’s occurring now I believe. There’s sufficient individuals enjoying junior tennis. We simply don’t assist them.”
Evans reserved his strongest ire for former Garden Tennis Affiliation efficiency director Simon Timson – now occupying the identical function with Manchester Metropolis – who was the architect of a efficiency technique that closely funds a small variety of gamers.
“It’s simply heartbreaking {that a} man subsequent door to you is getting 70 grand or one thing, however you’re higher than him,” mentioned Evans. “However a man with these stats is telling you, ‘No, no, he’s higher’.
“You’ll be able to look who has been on PSP (Professional Scholarship Programme, the very best degree of assist). It’s hardly flourishing studying is it? And that’s what I believe we have to (do) – get a much bigger pool and simply pool all of it in and get going. It’s easy maths. However Simon Timson, he was the mastermind of all of it.
“I couldn’t give a s**t about it. Simon Timson sat subsequent to me and informed me, ‘In all due respect to James Ward and Heather Watson, I put you three in the identical bracket. You’re near ending your profession.’ And I mentioned, ‘Thanks man’. That was that assembly.
“And I appear to have achieved all proper since that assembly. He despatched me to a psychologist, that was about it. I informed him that it was a stepping stone, the job, and that’s precisely what it was. He wouldn’t be there in three years and he wasn’t. He didn’t know what he was watching.”
In response, an LTA spokesperson mentioned: “Naturally we’d have favored to see gamers progress from qualifying to principal draw at Roland Garros this week.
“Regardless of this week’s outcomes, we’re making long run progress – however there’s extra work to do earlier than we constantly have the numbers we want to see throughout all ranges.
“That’s why we’re investing in our junior gamers, staging extra worldwide competitions on this nation and supporting gamers’ improvement, no matter is the most effective route for them to achieve the highest of the sport, together with each skilled and the school system routes.
“After all we have to go additional and wish gamers shifting up the rankings, however we do consider we’re on the right track.”
Evans is actually an instance of what may be achieved with arduous work and the appropriate angle, and he’ll hope to proceed his enchancment on clay when he takes on Kokkinakis on Sunday.
The British quantity two has misplaced his final three matches however reached the semi-finals of clay tournaments in Marrakech and Barcelona.
He joked of his relationship with the floor: “We had a superb week initially, after which we’ve not been on speaking phrases actually, sleeping in separate beds.
“No, it’s been good. I really feel snug. I’ve been enjoying good. It’s in all probability helped having an Argentinian coach, little intricacies, which the British in all probability don’t know as a result of they’re not so introduced up on the clay.”
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