| Dates: 28 Might-11 June Venue: Roland Garros, Paris |
| Protection: Reside textual content and radio commentaries of chosen matches throughout BBC Radio 5 Sports activities Further, the BBC Sport web site and app |
Britain’s Dan Evans stated his focus was “thrown out” by an uncommon foot-fault ruling in his French Open first-round loss to Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis.
He was a break up within the second set when he was penalised for crossing the centre line when serving, occurring to lose 6-4 6-4 6-4.
Whereas he stated it was “not anyplace close to the explanation why” he misplaced, it did swing the momentum again to Kokkinakis.
“I misplaced all belief in the place my toes had been,” the twentieth seed stated.
“However I used to be backside drawer from begin to end and he was first rate.”
British males’s quantity two Evans gained for the primary time at Roland Garros final 12 months, however has now suffered a fifth loss in six first-round matches on the clay-court Grand Slam event.
“It was a tough day, that is the underside line, actually. I used to be poor from begin to end,” Evans, 33, stated.
“[Thanasi] took benefit of it. He served nicely. It is irritating actually and that is about it.”
Solely two Britons – Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie – stay within the draw.
With Emma Raducanu injured, there aren’t any British gamers within the ladies’s singles after seven gamers misplaced in qualifying.
‘It is a arduous sport’ – Evans annoyed at not cracking world high 20
Evans has lengthy had a loveless relationship with the pink filth, however going into this 12 months’s French Open he stated he was feeling “very ready”.
The clay-court swing began promisingly for the world quantity 25 with runs to the semi-finals in Marrakech and Barcelona.
Nonetheless, he misplaced his opening matches in Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome – the most important tournaments going into Roland Garros – earlier than heading to Paris.
In heat and full of life situations towards wildcard Kokkinakis, Evans was unable to get on high of the Australian, who used his highly effective serve and forehand to power the Briton behind the baseline.
His serve got here below stress halfway via the primary set, with the Briton saving 4 break factors in an 11-minute recreation to carry for 3-2 earlier than his resistance ended when he subsequent served.
The one break proved key within the opener however Evans reset in the beginning of the second and moved 4-1 forward as he appeared in place to stage.
However Evans was irritated by being penalised for the foot fault when he led 4-2 30-0 and the double fault swung momentum again to 108th-ranked Kokkinakis.
“It clearly threw me fairly a bit as a result of it simply completely threw me and the place I used to be then serving from,” he stated.
“My method received thrown out. It is a very minor factor, but it surely turned a reasonably large factor in my head.”
Evans misplaced the subsequent 4 factors because the Australian broke again in that recreation after which, after the twentieth seed confirmed his anger by smashing a water bottle on the changeover, noticed out the set by profitable 5 video games in a row.
Along with his exasperation more and more evident, Evans dropped serve for 3-2 within the decider and perception appeared to be draining from him.
Nonetheless, he did handle to rescue the break for 4-4 however was immediately damaged again for 5-4 and Kokkinakis retained management to seal victory.
Afterwards Evans stated it’s “irritating” not having the ability to crack the world’s high 20 after spending a lot of the previous three years within the high 30.
“I am attempting to do what I feel is correct to get there, but it surely’s clearly not paying off,” he stated.
“It is arduous. It is a arduous sport. That is the underside line.”
