Week 45 - Challenger ($50,000) - Knoxville, TN, USA (indoor hard)

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

RE: Week 45 - Challenger ($50,000) - Knoxville, TN, USA (indoor hard)

EddietheEagle · County player

Looked like the biggest paycheque of his life, that one. About six foot by three!

Well played Mr Evans. Can you do that on clay?

thejester · Satellite level

Okay so now with the title in the bag, I finally feel safe to reveal that I predicted Dan was going to win the title just before he played his 2nd round match. If anybody doubts me, I will happily post the screen-shot as evidence haha!

Super, super happy with that. Dan will get a 1 back at the start of his ranking, and with nothing to defend for 6 months, he now has a great platform to build on for 2016. What a great day for GB men's tennis - an o2 win for Jamie, and challenger titled for Kyle and Dan, fantastic stuff.

RJA · Hall of fame

Great week for Dan, not just the results but his level of play and attitude he court. He looks fitter than he has ever been and more focussed than he has ever been.

Dare we hope that the corner has well and truly been turned and we can finally look forward to seeing Dan fulfil his potential?

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Some high quality Twitter heckling of the commentator going on there as well!

Great win for Dan

Not a bad Sunday all in all thanks boys just what I needed as RnR after a 6 day week.

More of the same next week please

Priesty · Challenger level

YAY EVO!!! biggrin biggrin biggrin

What an amazing day for the British game.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Fantastic win. Evo was very solid in sets 2&3. Tiafoe was very hot and cold and Evo took advantage when he went cold.

Floody78 · Junior player

Living in a half English half Lithuanian household it has been a good day with Berankis, Edmund and Evans all winning Challengers!

steven · Tennis legend

Spaced wrote:
Yes Evo! Really enjoyed that, he looks back to his best and I'm excited for what 2016 will bring.
What a day!! Have 2 British men ever won challenger titles in the same week before?

Not in this century - two Challenger finalists (who both lost) on the same day in 2007 (Bloomers in Wrexham and Baker in Waikoloa) and an all-GB final in 2005 (Boggo beat Hilton in Nottingham) were the previous bests, though earlier this year, Brits won ATP (Murray), Challenger (Bedene) and Futures (Evans) singles title in the same week for the first time I can remember.

A 7-match winning streak for Brits in Challenger singles finals is also a first this century (previous best was 5, 2 from Andy then 3 from Boggo in 2005/6), probably ever.

indiana wrote:
Yes !!!!

7 challenger wins in a year for the first time since ....

I doubt I missed more than one title in 1995 (when I found 5 wins from 8 finals), so for at least a quarter of a century, I think - possibly ever!

When the new rankings come out, Evo will have risen nearly 500 places in about 6 months, from a low of 772 in May into the mid-180s.

All this is the perfect answer to that recent article claiming that British tennis was in its worst state ever, though even before this weekend, that sounded like rubbish.

indiana · Tennis legend

It wasn't great timing by the article !!!

- even if the content of the article talked about seasoned observers ( or something like that ) saying it was worst ever ( which I doubt anyone here agreed with ) rather than the writer himself, and I did agree with quite a lot of it. It had too much hyperbole though when making its points against the LTA, GB junior boys tennis ( blaming the LTA ) and the Davis Cup hiding quite a lot, though the basic points had quite a degree of merit IMO.

Terrific individual successes this week doesn't actually fundamentally change things.

-- Edited by indiana on Sunday 15th of November 2015 09:48:23 PM

Topemp · Strong Club Player

Just like to add my congrats to Dan and Kyle, was expecting to watch some of Dan's but was helping my lad with his homework and that took longer and Dan's last 2 sets took shorter than I expected so missed it, but highly delighted that he's maintaining his consistency. The next 80 places are the hardest but I really believe he can do it.

Allez Evo!

-- Edited by Topemp on Sunday 15th of November 2015 10:11:51 PM

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Great timing for such an article a Michael Fish like weather forecast just before the hurricane that reduced Sevenoaks to sixoaks.

I would be devastated if we win the DC to find its hiding something!

TMH · Futures qualifying

steven wrote:
Spaced wrote:
Yes Evo! Really enjoyed that, he looks back to his best and I'm excited for what 2016 will bring.
What a day!! Have 2 British men ever won challenger titles in the same week before?
Not in this century - two Challenger finalists (who both lost) on the same day in 2007 (Bloomers in Wrexham and Baker in Waikoloa) and an all-GB final in 2005 (Boggo beat Hilton in Nottingham) were the previous bests, though earlier this year, Brits won ATP (Murray), Challenger (Bedene) and Futures (Evans) singles title in the same week for the first time I can remember.
A 7-match winning streak for Brits in Challenger singles finals is also a first this century (previous best was 5, 2 from Andy then 3 from Boggo in 2005/6), probably ever.
indiana wrote:
Yes !!!!

7 challenger wins in a year for the first time since ....
I doubt I missed more than one title in 1995 (when I found 5 wins from 8 finals), so for at least a quarter of a century, I think - possibly ever!
When the new rankings come out, Evo will have risen nearly 500 places in about 6 months, from a low of 772 in May into the mid-180s.
All this is the perfect answer to that recent article claiming that British tennis was in its worst state ever, though even before this weekend, that sounded like rubbish.

I make that nearly 600, in-fact. Even more impressive.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

The BBC have now updated the piece on Kyle to give Evo's win a mention too. Although I somehow doubt their assumption that Dan has "staked his claim for DC" given the different surface.

www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/34828177

indiana · Tennis legend

Oakland2002 wrote:
Great timing for such an article a Michael Fish like weather forecast just before the hurricane that reduced Sevenoaks to sixoaks.

I would be devastated if we win the DC to find its hiding something!

If you read the article, I think you know the point he was making re the Davis Cup and he was making it to a more general audience than big tennis followers, i.e. to folk who might indeed think it indicated that everything in the garden is rosey when it isn't, as I suggest on that point most folk on this forum would concur.

I hugely look forward to the Davis Cup Final and will us to that victory. But I see the separation that he sees and makes between that ( hopefully great triumph ) and the general state of British tennis and more particularly the state of the LTA.

However, great day today, culminating a great week for the guys

-- Edited by indiana on Monday 16th of November 2015 12:10:47 AM