THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 4, 2023

Daniel Evans

Press Conference

Q. HALYS/D. Evans

6-2, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You put in so much effort tonight, and we could see you're feeding off the crowd. Is there frustration you left yourself a mountain to climb from Monday?

DANIEL EVANS: Yeah, of course. You know, it's obviously not intentional. It's tennis, isn't it? You need to put your game on the court whenever you get a chance in a five-set match, and I didn't do it for the first two sets. That's a bit ultimately which let me down.

But I had chances in the fourth to, you know, to get ahead. I think, you know, for the match I was 0 from 5 on breakpoints, something like this. You know, I nearly did a good job to equal up the match.

Yeah, of course you look back at yesterday, I wasn't very good at all. I have to give him credit. He played very well, and it's frustrating, but that's, you know, why I have to keep coming back and putting my game on the court. Yeah, competing.

Q. You were obviously one of the few matches to complete today. Were you given a chance about coming back tonight? Did you put yourself up for it? What was the conversation with the tournament?

DANIEL EVANS: No, it's a match that needed to be finished, I think, because, you know, the winner is waiting. Obviously I was asked, and, you know, it was a pleasure to play on such a good court again. It was amazing atmosphere, and, you know, I enjoyed moments of it, of course. You know, the end was a bit disappointing, but that's the way it goes.

You know, I left everything out there, and, yeah, it's difficult to take but you've got to get on.

Q. He would probably choose to play you indoors, and maybe you wouldn't choose to play him indoors. I guess the opportunity to play on Centre was too good to turn down.

DANIEL EVANS: I mean, he served good outdoors; he served good indoors. I had chances, breakpoints, didn't take them. That's hard, but, you know, that's the game, isn't it? If you don't take your chances you're not going to win.

Q. You mentioned you have to keep coming back and fighting. What are your plans in the next few weeks to sort of rebuild your confidence, as it were?

DANIEL EVANS: No, I think now it's important to spend time with family, friends. Tennis won't be on my agenda for a little while.

You know, it's been a long six months or seven months, whatever it is. It's important to recharge and get ready for a good swing in America, which I enjoy. But it's important to rest, as well.

Yeah, that's all I'm really going to do for a bit and then start back up.

Q. You obviously had a really good start to the season. Third round Oz Open and got to semifinals in Barcelona. Do you feel these last few months you almost hit a wall, because you've been so consistent 18 months before that?

DANIEL EVANS: Yeah, I have done nothing different, so yeah, it's disappointing, of course. But, you know, they're good players out there. You know, I think everyone is guilty of having opinions on certain players you should beat, you shouldn't beat.

I think when the draw come out, I must have had that many messages saying, Quentin Halys is a clay court player. It's very easy to overlook people. They're all good players on the tour and you have to put them away, and that's what I try and do.

But if I'm losing, which I am at the minute, you know, I wouldn't say I've hit a wall, it's frustrating, it's annoying, it's whatever, but I'm not sure what else you can do. You've just got to keep competing. It's is no good practicing, I tried that. I tried to take Eastbourne off and took Nottingham off, and first round, first round, it's incredibly frustrating.

I don't know. If you know anything I can do, it would be helpful (smiling).

Q. In this period that you're going to take off and recharge a little bit, are you also going to look at changing things or building a new coaching team at all? I know you recently finished with your previous one.

DANIEL EVANS: Yeah. Yeah, I've got to look at that, but I think a few days away from thinking about tennis, you know, and not talking about tennis.

You know, I'll leave incredibly frustrated after tonight, you know, to work hard and then serve a double at 30-All. But like I said previously, it's important to switch off. When I feel it's right, I'll start, you know, thinking about it, asking people what they think, who they think, but I think it's important to totally switch off now.

You know, it's important to step away sometimes, to live a bit of a normal life and get away from living out of a suitcase for a long time.

Q. Was Matt Reid just very much a temporary appointment?

DANIEL EVANS: Yeah, Matt Reid coaches I think James Duckworth. So, yeah, it was just temporary. I have known Matt since we were like 12 years old, I think. He was around and just helped me out for a few weeks. Yeah.