Evans suffers ‘shocking’ French Open first-round defeat against Kokkinakis

Dan Evans said he will have ample soul-searching to do after his hopes of a positive French Open ended with a dispiriting 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 defeat against Thanasi Kokkinakis in the first round.

“I said the other day there’s some soul-searching,” said Evans, the 20th seed, referencing his recent criticism of British tennis. “There will be plenty of that tonight. Got to get on and try and get my game in a good spot. It’s shocking right now how I played today. It’s disappointing. I thought [I was] in a good spot coming in, but I felt like that the whole time. It’s not good enough.”

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Evans’s clay-court season had started positively, with the 33‑year‑old beating top opposition in Karen Khachanov and Francisco Cerundolo to reach an ATP 500 semi-final in Barcelona. Since then, however, he has reverted to his poor form throughout this season, losing his past four matches.

Evans said he feels great on the practice court, but he is struggling badly in competition. During the match, a questionable foot fault from the centre line was enough to completely disrupt his form and confidence.

“You play well in practice, and then you get on the court, and that’s a bit worrying. There’s not much else I can really do. I’m working really well in practice. I’m doing the stuff I need to do, and then comes to match day, and I’ve been, again, apart from one tournament, pretty average this year.

“I’m not sure what else to try. Believe me, I’ve tried quite a lot this year, and it’s getting the same answer a lot.”

Since breaking into the top 30 just before the Covid hiatus in 2020, Evans has remained within and around the top 30 for over three years, a strong achievement for a player who had previously spent his career outside of the top 100.

However, instead of gradually pushing forward towards the top 20, his form has stagnated. Evans is 8-15 so far in 2023 and he has lost his first match in nine of his 12 tournaments this year. He is in the high 50s in the live ATP race for 2023, with significant points to defend in the summer.

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“It’s just frustrating that I’ve been there so long and then not to be able to get inside [the top 20] becomes frustrating,” he said. “Not winning the slightly bigger matches. At the minute it’s more frustration than knowing what I can do to get there. I’m trying to do what I think is right to get there, but it’s obviously not paying off. It’s just hard. It’s a hard sport. That’s the bottom line.”

Meanwhile, Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic claimed the first major scalp on the opening day as she toppled Maria Sakkari, the Greek eighth seed, 7-6(5), 7-5.

Muchova, a former top‑20 player who reached the 2021 Australian Open semi-finals, is primarily unseeded because of her struggles with various injuries and she was widely considered a nightmare first‑round draw. The result is nearly identical to their second-round match last year, which Muchova won in two tiebreak sets.

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Stefanos Tsitsipas, the men’s fifth seed, moved into the second round after four tight sets, beating Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(7). Tsitsipas was trailing by 3-6 in the tiebreak, a fifth set looming, before launching a strong comeback.

Afterwards, the Greek said he has worked hard on taking inspiration from Carlos Alcaraz’s positive demeanour. Tsitsipas said: “Last year during preseason I was, like: ‘I want to apply that more into my game.’ Players focus more on technical stuff and stuff that don’t focus on these aspects of the game.

“I kind of admire him for who he is. I just want to be more – I have that capacity of being that person. I truly believe that. That is also the reason that I’m just much more joyful and happy when playing this sport, due to him.”