Dan Evans and Jack Draper hearth Great Britain to opening Davis Cup victory
Dan Evans and Jack Draper fired Great Britain to an opening-round victory over Australia on the Davis Cup in Manchester. Team captain Leon Smith picked Draper, who reached the US Open fourth spherical final week, over the extra skilled Andy Murray and Cameron Norrie to kick issues off towards Thanasi Kokkinakis.
And the 21-year-old secured a debut 6-7 (6) 6-3 7-6 (4) win after two hours and 52 minutes in entrance of a jubilant 9,000-strong crowd on the AO Arena.
“He said he wanted me out there and he believed in me,” Draper mentioned. “From that we didn’t talk too much about it, I prepared well and trained well.
“I actually solely considered it an hour earlier than I performed, to which the nerves began coming in. I used to be undoubtedly a bit nervous. But I do know I performed some robust matches within the US Open and felt actually good about my tennis. When I received on the market, with all of the folks supporting me, it felt wonderful.”
Evans then entered the fray against world No. 12 Alex De Minaur and stunned the highest-ranked player in the group 6-1 2-6 6-4.
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Evans said: “I used to be extremely nervous strolling out, practising right here, and it is rather a lot larger than I anticipated and really a lot nearer to the courtroom than we have performed earlier than. It was wonderful, thanks for all of your help, I like taking part in in entrance of you all and I get one other likelihood in about half-hour!
“I knew the tie was not over if I lost and Jack [Draper] played an amazing match and got us off to an amazing start and that made my job easier. He came out and got us a win and he has been amazing.”
Skipper Smith has been engaged on staff concord as GB hunt their first title since 2015. The hosts tackle Switzerland of their second of three group video games on Friday.”We’ve been playing darts a lot in the team room,” Draper mentioned.
“Some are better than others – I’m pretty poor. I throw it like an arrow. So, yeah, it was an inside joke. A guy on the team, Billy Harris, who is here as a hitter, is the best. He brings his own darts. He hits 140s.
“From the gamers, Andy [Murray] may be very aggressive – as he can be. Dan [Evans] simply talks a great deal of trash. It’s actually nice enjoyable, particularly being a part of a staff as a result of that is one thing we do not get to do rather a lot.”
Britain’s top tennis stars are staying in the same hotel as the Manchester United squad Friday night ahead of their clash with Brighton at Old Trafford.
And boyhood Red Devils fan Draper is hoping to run into Erik ten Hag’s men.
“I’m a Manchester United fan. I feel they’re [the team] staying in our resort on Friday night time so I’ll have to present them a pep speak,” he defined.