British tennis star Dan Evans will be taking on one of the biggest games of his career on Thursday (July 3) when he faces Novak Djokovic in a hugely anticipated second-round clash at Wimbledon. Evans sailed into the second round with a commanding 6-1, 7-5, 6-2 win over fellow Brit Jay Clarke. Seven-time SW19 champion Djokovic prevailed over Alexandre Muller, after a punishing four-set match where the Serbian complained of stomach discomfort, to set up the blockbuster tie with Evans.
Evans, 35, and Djokovic, 38, have only ever met once on the court in their long careers, with the Brit surprisingly defeating Djokovic 6-4, 7-5 at the Monte Carlo Masters in 2021. Yet that encounter spawned a series of intriguing comments from both competitors, with the Brit even claiming Djokovic was a source of “annoyance” to him. Evans also once took the 24-time Grand Slam champion to task over his remarks on events being played during the Covid-19 pandemic – with Thursday’s encounter at Wimbledon now simmering nicely.
After his hard-fought win over Djokovic in 2021, Evans opened up on the mind games deployed by the Serbian, while detailing just how he pulled off the upset. “He kept me waiting at the start of the match in the changing rooms a little bit,” Evans told Amazon Prime after the victory.
“It was a little annoying, so I was ready to go from that – it got me a little extra fired up. He gave away some cheap ones today, which he never normally does. But I’m just really happy. My game plan was to try to bring him forward and have him hit the ball low in the court.”
Evans continued: “It was difficult to get to the net and I felt sometimes I was doing too much running. But I also thought I did a good job to get out of my service games. He had so many break points and didn’t take them, so I was a little lucky there.”
Following the humbling defeat, Djokovic branded the contest as “probably one of the worst matches and performances from my side I can recall in the last years.”
Yet he did reserve praise for the Brit, claiming that Evans is “a really a nice player to watch”, adding: “He’s quick around the court. He serves and volleys. He’s got a really all-around game.”
Prior to their Monte Carlo clash, Evans had distanced himself from Djokovic’s concerns over players being able to take just one member of their team with them to the US Open in 2020, with the Covid-19 pandemic still of great concern at the time.
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Djokovic believed that the safety protocols in place were on the “extreme” side and that it would be “really impossible” to have just one member of his entourage with him. Evans, however, saw things differently.
“There has to be a bit of give and take from the players,” Evans told BBC 5 Live Breakfast in June 2020. “I don’t think having one person of your team only allowed is such a big deal – the majority of the draw would only travel with one coach.
“Not everyone’s travelling with physios and fitness trainers like Novak said, so I think his argument there is not really valid for the rest of the draw, apart from the real top guys.”
Rafael Nadal also claimed he had little interest in playing in tournaments until they could be staged safely, but Evans maintained that the game’s biggest stars should’ve been looking out for those below them.
He added: “This is the point where I think the players should really come together and Novak and Rafa should really be looking to help those players with lower ranks so they get a good pay day.”
The world No. 154 will now be looking to pull off the biggest win of his career to date. However, he candidly revealed after his first-round victory over Clarke that his dad, who usually attends his biggest games, was not in attendance this time due to a pre-scheduled golf trip.