Don't think Dan Evans likes Sunday mornings - 4-1 down
Often a function of Saturday nights in my experience, when I start slowly.......which is mostof the time
Even with Dan I would be staggered if that is a factor while he has Julien Hoferlin travelling with him. If it is then Hoferlin's services should be removed from Dan with immediate effect.
Well as I said I would be genuine staggered if it was anything untoward. Dan does strike me as someone who is not a "morning person" and I always worry a little when he is scheduled early, especially when he is playing someone he should easily beat because of added problem of lack of motivation.
I'm pretty sure Dan has a problem motivating himself for the matches where he is expected to win easily.
He does. I don't think it is down to a bad attitude where he deliberately doesn't give a damn about playing someone like this but on a subconscious level he just doesn't take any pleasure beating someone who is much better than. He doesn't see it as an achievement, it isn't a challenge and without those factors he struggles to find the high intensity that he needs to play his best tennis.
I also think we need to revise who we think Dan should easily beat. There are certain types of players Dan struggles with. We can't base it purely on ranking. Dan had a lot of stick for losing to Phau in the FQR because Dan's ranking was higher and hence he should have won. Phau's run to the semi-final should have illustrated the folly of such a base for our expectation.
It's quite common for a player to feel the pressure on his own serve when he's struggling to break his opponents. We've all seen Andy suffer from this often enough.
I also think we need to revise who we think Dan should easily beat. There are certain types of players Dan struggles with. We can't base it purely on ranking. Dan had a lot of stick for losing to Phau in the FQR because Dan's ranking was higher and hence he should have won. Phau's run to the semi-final should have illustrated the folly of such a base for our expectation.
Phau's run to the SF was partly based on a fortunate draw. He played a Pavic in the first round who you would expect him to beat. His win over Youzhny looked good but the Russian is struggling with injuries and is in absolutely awful form and Dudi Sela is a player whose form is frequently erratic. So while Phau clearly found some form, after a year of doing nothing, I still think it is a match that Dan should have won.
In any event any ration assessment would have Marcora down as a player that Dan should easily beat and more importantly Dan knows that. There is nothing in the guy's record to suggest that he belongs at this level and while it might take a while to break his serve down there is no reason why Dan should struggle on his own serve unless he was playing very badly.
I am resigned to the fact that Dan will never play well in this type of match so all that really matters is that he finds a way through.
Not sure how much anyone here actually plays - but - (obvious statement) - tennis isn't played on rankings.
Sometimes you play someone whose strength plays right into a weakness of yours, or a shot that isn't working that day. This Marcora may very well have a big serve or an all-or-nothing indoor game, which can be hard to play against, you may just have to hang in there and ask them to play at that level for two full sets, you don't know...that cliché of "winning when you're not playing very well" basically.
Sometimes you don't just roll over and beat on someone you're "supposed" to beat. If upsets never happened then Evans wouldn't have caused any himself.
To win match after match easily against different game styles is a tough ask at any level - to see him go a set down and someone posting that he must have been out on the drink last night tells me that that person probably doesn't play the game much. I don't know the guy but he would not be 123 in the world if he wasn't dedicated, no matter what level of talent he has, it's a bit unfair to keep picking away at this argument now. They are all talented at his level.
Sorry for the long post but it's not as simple as: 100 point ranking difference = straightforward 2-set win.
I know it's probably that everyone wants the guys to achieve and the disappointment when they don't is difficult to take, but it's a long year and one result won't delete his points from Zagreb.
I hope he wins now I've written all this, ha!