CINCH CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 19, 2023

Daniel Evans

Queens Club

Press Conference

S. KORDA/D. Evans

6-4, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Dan, just tell us about the match today. Obviously a very disappointing result for you.

DANIEL EVANS: Yeah, it was a difficult match. Sebastian played very well. I didn't play very well. Yeah, my game wasn't in a good place today to compete, and yeah, I think the scoreline was pretty fair.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. It's a lot of defeats recently. What do you do to rectify that and get back on the winning front?

DANIEL EVANS: That's the tough question. That's the tough part of the conundrum I'm in is to find the answer to that.

Yeah, it's a difficult question and the answer is just as hard, I guess. It's just to keep going, working hard. Yeah, I don't know. There is no magic formula in this game to, yeah, to get the wins.

Yeah, I have to compete hard, a bit harder than I did today, and be better mentally. But it's becoming difficult to do that with the amount of losses. It's frustrating and also a little bit embarrassing. So there's a lot of emotion in that. It's hard to see what I can do next.

Q. I don't think you're on the entry list for Eastbourne at the moment. Will you consider going down there to get another couple of matches?

DANIEL EVANS: It's a hard question to answer again now. Probably not. You know, I think I need to stick to what I'm thinking of doing and just get ready for Wimbledon.

Yeah, I have got good people to support me, who will work hard for me. That's important at times like this, and yeah, we just spoke up there and I think we're all on the same...yeah.

Q. Are you still looking forward to Wimbledon, or is there a little bit of you that...

DANIEL EVANS: No. I'm not looking forward to playing any tennis at the minute. It's tough. When your game and you feel no confidence, it's not a good spot to be in and it's a difficult spot.

You know, I'd love to say I'm looking forward to playing my next match but I'm not. That's the honest truth for you.

Q. Every time you lose, do you just feel worse about it? Confidence goes out just a little bit more?

DANIEL EVANS: No, I don't think -- you know, I'm not bothered about -- you know, I had a good week in Morocco, good week in Barcelona, and then they're all coming in a row, which is the most frustrating thing.

Then again today, yeah, you know, things aren't going the way I want them to go. I mean, I think getting a hot-dog lob over your head when you're 15-30 probably sums up my year so far, and I'm trying to push, to get in front in matches and it's not happening for me.

But you're always very close in this game to turn in it, and yeah, you know, still enjoy the week, still got doubles, which is, you know, a nice thing to look forward to and hopefully get some wins there. Yeah.

Q. You played a very heavy schedule for several years. Seems like you, Cam as well, you're not the same people, but you do seem to be spending an awful lot of time on the road. Do you think maybe is it a bit of a cumulative effect of that? Do you maybe need to, I don't know, sort of mentally get on top of it again, refresh a bit?

DANIEL EVANS: No, I mean, you know, I travel with all the people I want to travel with. I have never been shy to invite people who I want to be around to come on tour. That's how it keeps me fresh.

You know, that's the way I have operated, and it's paid dividends for me for a few years now. Yeah, I think it's important to play as much as I can when I'm fit.

The irony of that is the more you lose, the more you need to play, and right now -- you know, I have had a good week this week. You know, I will maybe take a tournament out in America, or have a good week in Wimbledon, I'll take a tournament out, but the more you lose, the more tournaments you need to get out there and get back on the horse.

Q. From your experience, Dan, how quickly can confidence return? Is it easier to gain that confidence on the match court, or can you do it on the practice court as well?

DANIEL EVANS: No, that's the hard thing is I'm playing good in practice. I have played very well all year. I just haven't been able to put that game onto the match courts.

You know, I had a good week in Barcelona, again, Morocco, tough match in Rome. You know, I'm just not getting through the matches which I'd expect to get through.

You know, at 5-All today, you know, it sort of reared its head again where I didn't serve well, got broke easy, and they are the moments you need to be tough in, and you can only get that on the match court. That's where you get your confidence from. Beating players in practice isn't the answer to getting the wins on the tour.

Q. You used the word "embarrassing" earlier. A lot of people wouldn't be embarrassed to lose to Seb Korda. Or did you mean more about the run, I guess?

DANIEL EVANS: No, it's just on my level today. It's not embarrassing to lose to Sebastian Korda, by any stretch of imagination. He's a great player. But in comparison to my level when I played him in Wimbledon, I don't think he played particularly well today, there was a lot of errors from him, but there was more from me.

Yeah, he was just a bit more solid than me. That's what I pride myself on is being tough to beat, and I wasn't tough to beat.

Q. Is the feeling you're having one you have had before, the feeling you're having now?

DANIEL EVANS: Not really. Yeah, I have just got to stick with it. There's no panicking, and worrying about it isn't going to help it.

It's just getting back out there on the practice court, in the gym, and I have had, you know, from sort of from the start of the year, I had a bit of a slump again, and then I played some good tennis.

So yeah, right now it's just not good tennis, but it's just, you know, if you stick with it, hopefully it will change. There are not any other answers to it apart from getting back out there and practicing hard, playing matches, trying to compete, yeah.