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

Spectator · All-time great

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

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

Brilliant win, hopefully only the first of two SF wins over in the Americas today.

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

Great news.

Topemp · Strong Club Player

RJA wrote:
Spectator wrote:
Would very much like to see an Evans v Tiafoe final.
Would very much like to see Evans v whoever final.

This.

Now we can.

thejester · Satellite level

Missed the match due to the internet being down at work and my phone dying.
Pretty darn chuffed to find out Dan won in straights!!
48 precious points, and if he can go all the way, he'll get a 1 back at the front of his WR too.
Well done Evo

steven · Tennis legend

What a week for Dan - his first Challenger singles final since 2013 and it's only the second year this century that GB has had 6 Challenger singles finalists (the other was 2005, when Andy won his two Challenger titles, Boggo won two Challenger titles, and Jonny Marray and Mark Hilton were both runners-up, the latter to Boggo in the last all-GB Challenger singles final) but half of those finalists were in GB Futures, which to some extent makes this year even more impressive.

Indeed, the fact that Brits have won their other five Challenger singles finals this year makes it even more successful than 2005 - and of course, Kyle still has a semi-final to play this week!

indiana · Tennis legend

Yay

New, old, whatever, liking the current Evo !

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

SF: Dan Evans WR 271 defeated Jared Donaldson (USA) WR 140 by 3 & 4 biggrin

Belated congrats to Dan on that win.

*******

The male player with the girl's name, Frances Tiafoe, downed Novikov in straight sets (4 & 4), so Spectator has her wish:

Final: Frances Tiafoe (USA) WR 221 (= CH) vs Dan Evans WR 271

thejester · Satellite level

steven wrote:
What a week for Dan - his first Challenger singles final since 2013 and it's only the second year this century that GB has had 6 Challenger singles finalists (the other was 2005, when Andy won his two Challenger titles, Boggo won two Challenger titles, and Jonny Marray and Mark Hilton were both runners-up, the latter to Boggo in the last all-GB Challenger singles final) but half of those finalists were in GB Futures, which to some extent makes this year even more impressive.

Indeed, the fact that Brits have won their other five Challenger singles finals this year makes it even more successful than 2005 - and of course, Kyle still has a semi-final to play this week!

Looks like you can start your research into when we last had 7 challenger singles finalists Steven, with Kyle looking well on course to make through in Argentina!

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

From the bits I saw, I thought Dan played exceptionally well.

Great to have 2 GB players in Challenger finals (overseas, I might add) in the same week.

steven · Tennis legend

thejester wrote:
steven wrote:
What a week for Dan - his first Challenger singles final since 2013 and it's only the second year this century that GB has had 6 Challenger singles finalists (the other was 2005, when Andy won his two Challenger titles, Boggo won two Challenger titles, and Jonny Marray and Mark Hilton were both runners-up, the latter to Boggo in the last all-GB Challenger singles final) but half of those finalists were in GB Futures, which to some extent makes this year even more impressive.

Indeed, the fact that Brits have won their other five Challenger singles finals this year makes it even more successful than 2005 - and of course, Kyle still has a semi-final to play this week!

Looks like you can start your research into when we last had 7 challenger singles finalists Steven, with Kyle looking well on course to make through in Argentina!

See the Buenos Aires thread

Priesty · Challenger level

Coup Droit wrote:
That was pretty easy. Well done, Dan; Georgina can book tickets to Oz-land

Are they still together? Thought I'd read something on here a bit ago that they'd split up.

Edit - apparently yes having trawled back through Twitter, wonder if this partly explains the upturn in form? Behind every good man and all that....

-- Edited by Priesty on Sunday 15th of November 2015 12:36:14 AM

Robin · Lower Club Player

Really great news, it's been a rollercoaster following Dan (understatement?) and i'm really hopeful for 2016. I saw from twitter also that Georgina was back in the picture, hope that gives him some stability and makes life on the road more palatable.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

I have only really been following Dan since he decided to come back to the UK rather than play in Hawai. This caused a certain amount of agitation but having a yearning for Banks's, scratchins and the Villa myself can completely understand his preference re Maui v Mailbox.

I have a certain amount of sympathy for anyone trying to have a conventional relationship when relentless travel is part of their job and given the margins between winning and loosing at this level are so fine, the capacity to focus ones mind and emotions is essential. When you watch Dan he is a bundle of nervous energy and often aware of his surroundings (the antithesis of Borg), other distractions can't help.

2014 was a washout through injury, we underestimate the impact of struggling on with minor niggles has on optimising the elite game and I think Dans knee was more than a niggle. The drop in ranking was in retrospect unavoidable but I have throughly enjoyed his sustained efforts and focus in 2015 starting with winning the playoff for a Wimbledon qualifying wildcard where he showed that at the very least he belonged at the top end of the challenger tree with the talent to do more.

Increasingly it is apparent to me that after any significant injury it takes 18 months to get back to your best regardless of your level.

Regardless of today's outcome I am very optimistic for Dan in 2016 and quite happy to stay on this roller coaster

Allez.

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Sunday 15th of November 2015 07:34:08 AM

RJA · Hall of fame

Oakland2002 wrote:
2014 was a washout through injury, we underestimate the impact of struggling on with minor niggles has on optimising the elite game and I think Dans knee was more than a niggle. The drop in ranking was in retrospect unavoidable but I have throughly enjoyed his sustained efforts and focus in 2015 starting with winning the playoff for a Wimbledon qualifying wildcard where he showed that at the very least he belonged at the top end of the challenger tree with the talent to do more.

Increasingly it is apparent to me that after any significant injury it takes 18 months to get back to your best regardless of your level.

In retrospect trying to play through the injury was probably one of the biggest mistakes of Dan's career although having played so well in the summer of 2013 and early 2014 it was certainly understandable.