Evan desperately needs funding, I wonder if Gary considered him?
Yes. I rate Evan highly, he'd definitely be very near the top of my list. Been very unlucky with injuries. And desperately unlucky with that sad story of his US college place having to be canceled because his mum was honest enough to tell them that he'd received two shillings funding when he was 16 or something (and so he was now a 'pro' . . )
I watched Evan training with Oli last year (or was it at the start of this year) in La Manga. He certainly looked the part to me although at was apparent even then that something was wrong with his back. There were several occasions where he would put his hand to his back after a shot or a long rally.
I really hope that his injury problems are behind him. As someone who missed a year of sport at 18 through back problems, I can certainly relate to all the frustration that he has eruditely expressed in his blog.
What he needs now, is court time. I don't expect too much this week or the rest of this year. Just hope he gets a solid close season under his belt and he gets a full year next year. His ranking target for this year was 650. That would seem a reasonable target for next year given the circumstances.
He is under way in his FQR already. Early days so far but a strong start as he is up a break at *3-1
L32: James Marsalek WR 941 v (1) Nikola Milojevic (SRB) WR 375 (CH 352 in Sep; world junior no. 1 at the start of 2013)
L32: (SE) Andrew Bettles WR 1698 v (Q) Bastien Favier (FRA) UNR (CH 1322 in 2012)
L32: (WC) Joe Cooper UNR v (5) Dino Marcan (CRO) WR 544 (CH 289 in 2012)
L32: (Q) Evan Hoyt WR 1581 v Andre Gaspar Murta (POR) WR 692 (CH 571 in 2013)
L32: (Q) Imran Aswat WR 1175 v Damon Gooch (RSA) WR 926 (CH 876 in Jun)
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
Don't think Imran can have any complaints. He may not win but that's a very fair draw.
I think Evan has a reasonable chance v Gaspar Murta (clay courter, hasn't won much outside of Portugal) but that might be wishful thinking.
Shame for James . . . he's got the number two seeds in the doubles too. (Joe's got the number one seeds, Bettles/Hoyt seem to have a more playable match).
R1: (1) Jordi Muñoz & David Pérez (VEN/ESP) CR 816 (410+406) vs Joe Cooper & Stefan Merunka (CRO) UNR R1: Vincent Jänsch-Müller & Lukas Rüpke (GER/GER) UNR vs Andy Bettles & Evan Hoyt CR 2216 (1307+909) R1: Damon Gooch (RSA) & James Marsalek CR 1775 (633+1142) vs (2) João Domingues & André Gaspar Murta (POR/POR) CR 1338 (613+725)