Exclusive
Dan Evans on training with Federer, watching videos of Sampras and beating Djokovic
In this exclusive blog written by Dan Evans for Advantage, the British No.1 opens up about watching old Pete Sampras vs Andre Agassi videos on YouTube, spending two weeks in Dubai with Roger Federer and why his win over David Goffin was as satisfying as beating Novak Djokovic.
I like to watch tennis.
I’ll watch 20 minutes a night – all of the highlights packages for each tournament on that given week – as I think it’s good to see what’s happening at the other events. It sometimes doesn’t make me great company though, as I’m always watching tennis.
When I’m at an event, I often watch the evening matches after playing in the day.
I love the Australian and US Opens in particular as it’s at those events where you can get into bed after a hard day and the night matches are on. Those are my main memories of going to those events when I started out, watching those evening matches. Even when it was Stan and Andy late at night at Wimbledon, there’s something pretty cool about watching the tennis after you’ve come back from a day on the court.
In lockdown I watched a lot of old matches.
Normally I’m used to seeing the daily highlights where you get a couple of shots of each guy, but in lockdown I had the time to watch old matches in full, and I learnt a lot. I watched the full match of Agassi vs Sampras at the US Open in 2001 – the quarter final they played where there were four tie-breaks. It was astonishing. I knew they were both good, but it’s not until you sit down and watch every intricate moment that you appreciate how exceptional they were. It was probably an evening wasted for my other half – but a good evening for me!
On the clay I watched a lot of Henman, and I like looking back at his old matches in particular.
I have an argument that tennis hasn’t changed much since those days – other people aren’t so sure – but for me you can still learn a lot from watching those guys. I think there are some similarities between Tim and me. I think he has a better serve, but we’re both not big hitters from the baseline so we have to think about being aggressive from the back of the court – taking the ball that little bit earlier, or coming into the net. I also watched guys like Guillermo Coria – especially his five-set final against Rafa in Monte-Carlo in 2005 – as I think it was a pretty special time back then in tennis.
I came home recently for six days after my longest time away from home.
I left the UK on January 15th and after Australia I went to Dubai and Qatar – which are both great tournaments – and from there I went straight to Miami. It’s been pretty full on from there, but also not as bad as you’d imagine.
You do miss home at times, though.
The thing I miss is my family – I’ve got two young nephews and a niece – who I’d normally see quite a bit. Not being able to see your family is the hardest part but overall I’ve enjoyed the start to the year – and think I’ve had a really good build up to the clay court season. I’ve had six days at home so am feeling refreshed and ready for Roland Garros.
When I look back at this year so far, going out to practice with Roger Federer was special.
Ivan Ljubičić messaged me asking if I was available to go and practice with Roger – I said I was going to be in Dubai then play Rotterdam – but they said I could have a one-on-one practice with Roger for two weeks. So I pulled out of Rotterdam and that was that – his team are really good company and we had some good fun. Before we practiced Roger was very relaxed, but as soon as we were on the court it was strictly business. We had some great sessions, and I think one night we played for three hours until 9.30ish. It’s one of those experiences you’ll never forget.
I’ve given myself enough chances this year to win some great matches.
I’ve lost some bad ones, but I’ve done well this year in getting on with it and not letting those results get me down in practice. That’s where I have had my real success this year, on the practice court, and all of my good performances have stemmed from that.
I never take results back to the room – there’s more to living than that.
Of course you can be down after a loss, but there’s no point ruining someone else’s night over it. A good part about travelling with my girlfriend is you can park it once you’re done with the tournament. Everyone feels vulnerable after losing – I’m sure Djokovic after losing to Rafa is thinking ‘here we go again’ – it’s just normal. It’s part of the sport to come back and try to get better. It’s another lesson I learned – there’s no need to feel worried, or think about the next first round. If you’re working hard, and you give yourself chances, you’ll take one eventually. I didn’t think that against Dusan Lajovic when I missed a smash on match point, though!
Going to Sardinia instead of heading home has made a big difference for my clay court season.
I didn’t practice too much in Miami – I just played – so when I got to Sardinia and lost a tight first round match I was able to stay on and do some really good fitness work and practice which has made me feel a lot more comfortable on clay for the rest of the season. Although the results didn’t show, I also felt that I played well on the clay last year but the results are only just showing now.
Beating Djokovic was amazing – but for me the next day was an even bigger test, to come back and beat Goffin.
It was not more pleasing, but they both went into one for me. The day of beating Djokovic was quite draining, with all the messages on my phone and the media attention. I didn’t really get the chance to enjoy it, so it was really nice to come back the next day and play another good match. It’s easy to think ‘that was a good win, and today’s not my day’ and I was a set down against Goffin, but managed to come back and beat him. So I’d definitely group those two wins together as one.
I think we all need to come together this year to do the best for our events.
I’m sure there are so many people working behind the scenes at events this summer. I think as players we could do a bit more – not do things like moan about the prize money – and for me it’s about playing the events, enjoying them and all chipping in. It was difficult not to have the opportunity to play over lockdown so we don’t want to be in that position again.
When I think about my goals for the rest of the year I don’t have any specific ones – but I’d love to do well in a Grand Slam.
Or, winning Queen’s for me would be just as good as reaching the final stages of a Slam. I may never do well in one though, and that’ll be that, and I may have to finish my career with a third round, or a fourth round, in a Grand Slam. It won’t be for the want of trying, or not putting in enough effort. You never know how it’ll go – it’s a week-to-week basis this game!