Dan Evans has given his verdict on British tennis after this year's Roland Garros won't feature a single WTA player from the UK for the first time since 2009.
British tennis players have never been known as great clay players but it's been quite evident for a while that the women's side of the country's tennis is going downhill. Dan Evans spoke about it before and he once again shared his thoughts when all WTA players failed to qualify for Roland Garros. It's the first time since 2009 that the country won't have a single WTA player in the main draw.
“Yes. They’ve been lucky that they have a Grand Slam champion and she’s a very good tennis player but the rankings don’t lie, do they? I think the grass last year really helped paper over some cracks as well. There were some good results but, if you look at the players who did pretty well on the grass last year, who were wildcards etc., rankings don’t lie. After the grass [this year], there will be a bit of soul searching I imagine.”
Evans has been an outspoken critic of the the LTA before believing that hey don't handle it as well as they can:
“I know what it’s like to not work hard and what you get from that. And I know what it’s like to work hard and get decent rewards. I’m not sitting here saying I know the answers. I have a fair idea of the answers. There’s enough people playing junior tennis. We just don’t help them in my opinion. What I think we need to do it get a bigger pool and just pool it all in and get going. It’s simple maths. Spread the resources more thinly and bring in more people.”