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THE ARTOIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 10, 2008

Daniel Evans

LONDON, ENGLAND

X. MALISSE/D. Evans
6-1, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Not quite the experience you were looking for. Give us your impressions of the match.
DANIEL EVANS: It was the experience I was looking for. Obviously, I lost 6-1, 6-1. But it wasn't all doom and gloom. I got to play on a big court. Obviously better than playing on one of the outside courts. So next time when I have that opportunity, I'll be maybe one step ahead of the person who I play.
It was a good opportunity for me. I could have done better. But, you know, you don't always -- it doesn't always go the way you want it to go.

Q. Were you feeling nervous out there with the size of the court, everything like that?
DANIEL EVANS: Not so much the size of the court, but just the guy I was playing against. He's a good player. He makes a lot of balls. Wasn't like I was playing against somebody who had a massive serve, doesn't hit great off the ground.
If I was going to win points, I was going to be made to work for them, so... Yeah, I'm sure probably a bit of a step down for him to play against my ball. I know what it's like to play a less player than myself. If you're playing well, like he was, makes it look pretty average. That's obviously what he did to me.

Q. Have you played much on grass in the last few weeks?
DANIEL EVANS: I started Thursday, yeah, at the National Tennis Centre. I've had enough time -- I've had more time than he probably has or any of the other players have so...
Not an excuse that I've not been playing on grass that I lost.

Q. You were obviously well hacked off when you dropped a serve and sent the ball flying.
DANIEL EVANS: Yeah.

Q. What took you at that point?
DANIEL EVANS: Well, you don't get very many chances. I hadn't won very many games. To get to 2-All in the set, you're right in with a chance of competing in the set. To lose your serve from 40-Love... Maybe juniors you get another chance at deuce. But at deuce, he was back on me again, so...
That's pretty obvious why I lost my temper, yeah.

Q. How big is the difference between this sort of match, you've been playing a lot of futures match, but I don't know how many challengers you've been playing, and a junior Grand Slam, for instance?
DANIEL EVANS: In what way?

Q. In the level, the opponents.
DANIEL EVANS: Well, it isn't any harder than the juniors. You have to create your own chances. That's all really. He just nailed me down. In the second set, I was missing too much, so...
It's his job, isn't it, to keep me not hitting my shots. He did it well. He did it better than anybody I've played. That's what the difference is. They don't give you many chances. The juniors, even in futures, you get a lot of chances.

Q. Has that experience shown you how far you've got to go, the work required to get up towards the top hundred?
DANIEL EVANS: I don't think it's that far. It's just a marker. I know if I keep doing what I'm doing, there's no reason why I can't be here next year again playing in the quallies, qualifying, then playing him again with maybe a different result. A year on, there's a lot you can do, so...
Obviously, there's a lot of difference. But it's not something I'm majorly worried about.

Q. You mentioned qualifying rather than getting a wildcard. Often British players get criticized for getting wildcards. Do you think it's right you should get one and would you prefer to get one or would you prefer to earn your way into an event like this?
DANIEL EVANS: It's not my choice if I get a wildcard. If somebody said to you, Do you want Â£200, you'd say, No, no. It's just natural to take what you're given.
Sometimes you have to qualify and sometimes you get something given to you. On this occasion, I got it given to me.

Q. You feel, as you say, it has been a useful experience, that you've learned plenty from it?
DANIEL EVANS: Yeah. I got on a good court. That was the best thing. And I played someone who has been in the semifinals of Wimbledon before, won two tour events at the start of last year. So, yeah.

Q. What do you say to the many people from Novak Djokovic downwards that say that British players get given too much, or that it's too soft, the environment?
DANIEL EVANS: We do exactly the same as what they do. There's no secret to being a good player. They say they left home at 13. Every single person left home at 13 to go over to Loughborough. It wasn't as far, but every person who played, who I trained with, left home early. It obviously wasn't to America. Some went to America. But they still left home.
I don't think we're given too much. I think some people jump on that bandwagon of British tennis players don't work hard enough. It's their opinion, isn't it.

Q. Andy mentioned it in his book. I'm not saying he was referring to you. He said a lot of British juniors have the wrong attitude.
DANIEL EVANS: Have got?

Q. The wrong attitude, he said. The work ethic was wrong. That was Murray himself.
DANIEL EVANS: Yeah, well, I can only talk for myself and for the people I train with. We can't do much more, many more hours on the court, or in the gym. I'm guessing he's not referring to me or any of the people in there. I don't know how long ago he wrote the book.

Q. In the last few months.
DANIEL EVANS: Only been at Roehampton for two months, so classes me out of that (smiling).

Q. Where do you go from here?
DANIEL EVANS: To Wimbledon this afternoon to play the wildcard playoffs, then Roehampton. No, Nottingham quallies next weekend. Roehampton juniors, then Wimbledon juniors.

Q. Was it tough doing this kind of quallie-quallie thing?
DANIEL EVANS: No, it's better than sitting in a factory, I think so... No, it's good fun, as well. It's hard work. There's good rewards there at the end. Look at Andy now. He's got a nice life, traveling, playing tennis, plenty of money, so...

End of FastScripts

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