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Dan Evans admitted he could have played his final Davis Cup match after his defeat by Denis Shapovalov ended Great Britain’s hopes of reaching the quarter-finals.
Leon Smith’s side went into the final tie at a sold-out AO Arena in Manchester knowing that only a 3-0 victory against Canada would be enough but their chances lasted only the 81 minutes it took for former top-10 star Shapovalov to claim a 6-0 7-5 victory.
This week saw Evans surpass Andy Murray and Mike Sangster in the British all-time list by playing in his 26th, 27th and 28th ties, leaving him behind only Bobby Wilson.
He played the starring role last year as Britain dramatically made it through to the last eight but his ranking has slipped to 178 after a difficult 12 months and he has won only two of his five matches across singles and doubles this time.
Evans made his debut in Davis Cup back in 2009 and his love for the competition has not faded, but the 34-year-old said of his future: “There’s a good saying, which I wasn’t very good at when I was younger: ‘You’ve got to learn when to leave the party’. I need to have a think.
“There’s probably some better players coming than me at the minute. I don’t think it’s right to be putting Leon in awkward positions because I played X amount of ties. If I don’t feel capable of playing, I won’t come back.
“I’ve probably had my fair share now. So yeah, it could be and probably will be (the end). Here, definitely, anyway. So we’ll see how it is.”
There's a good saying, which I wasn't very good at when I was younger: 'You've got to learn when to leave the party'.— Dan Evans
The 15,700-strong crowd in Manchester – bigger than Wimbledon’s Centre Court and a new record for a Davis Cup tie in this country – did their best to inspire Evans but he won only nine points in a disastrous first set and, although the second was much tighter, he could not force a decider.
Evans’ only real chance came in the ninth game of the second, when he created two break points, but Shapovalov saved them both and was undoubtedly the stronger player.
“He was too good, to be frank. I nearly turned it at 5-5, got the crowd involved – 6-0 1-0 they’d be asking for refunds,” said Evans.
“It’s just disappointing. Watching Jack (Draper) walk out there with no chance of qualifying, it’s difficult and I have to – not live with it, it’s not that important – but I have to deal with that. It was frustrating to not give him a shot, I really thought I could have.”
The Lawn Tennis Association has invested significant sums in hosting team events over the past few years but this is now the second time in three years that Britain have gone out in the group stage and shows up the limited options available to captain Smith following Andy Murray’s retirement.
Draper should provide him with a strong number one for years to come but Cameron Norrie has struggled with injury this season and will turn 30 next year.
Billy Harris, who impressed on his debut on Wednesday but is very inexperienced at the top level, is also 29, and Smith will surely soon be looking to the likes of 23-year-old Scot Jacob Fearnley and last year’s Wimbledon junior champion Henry Searle.
“There’s no bones about it, it’s just a tough moment,” said Evans. “It sounds like an excuse, it’s really not, but we were behind the eight ball a bit with Jack coming late. Everybody had played a hell of a lot of tennis.
“We just left ourselves a bit too much to do today. We went to bed thinking we could win 3-0 but it wasn’t to be.”
Draper showed what the occasion meant to him despite Canada having joined Argentina in progressing from the group by smashing his racket six times after losing the first set to Felix Auger-Aliassime in a 7-6 (8) 7-5 defeat.
The US Open semi-finalist had beaten the Canadian, who is ranked just one place below him at 21 in the world, in both their previous meetings, including in Cincinnati last month in a contest that ended in controversy after Draper was incorrectly deemed to have got to a ball before it bounced twice.
This was an extremely close, high-quality encounter but this time it was Auger-Aliassime who had the edge to secure victory for Canada in the tie and extend Draper’s losing record in Davis Cup to one win from four matches.
