Britain's Dan Evans said he was “heartbroken” after a bad slip on the grass at the Queen's Club in London put his participation in the Wimbledon Championships, which begin on July 1, and the Paris Olympics, where tennis begins on July 27, in jeopardy.
Evans fell while changing direction in the first game of the deciding set and was forced to withdraw from his first-round match against Brandon Nakashima of the United States with the score tied at one set.
He cried out in pain and initially feared it was a groin injury, but later admitted in a press conference that it was “on the inside of my knee,” raising concerns of a medial cruciate ligament (MCL) problem, which Evans said was revealed during an off-court examination by a physiotherapist.
“If I don't make it to the Olympics or Wimbledon, that would be hard to accept,” Evans said.
“It's a bit of a limbo.”
Nakashima, ranked 59th in the world and due to partner Andy Murray in doubles, is not the first player to be forced to withdraw after a fall on the new courts. Nakashima's compatriot Francis Tiafoe suffered a similar fall to Evans' when he changed direction while serving in the second game of the third set against Australian Linky Hijikata. The American later confirmed he had an MCL injury but hopes to recover in time for Wimbledon.
Tiafoe played for Queens (Zach Goodwin/PA Images via Getty Images)
“I probably slipped about three times, one of which was crucial,” Denmark's Holger Rune said after his 6-4, 6-7 (4), 3-6 loss to Jordan Thompson. That crucial slip came on a break point during the match. But Rune also said it was “the same for both teams,” and Evans seemed optimistic about the nature of the grass. Grass becomes increasingly slippery in cool, wet weather, as well as in the morning, evening and early part of a tournament. As more play is done on the court or the weather gets drier and warmer, the surface tends to become less slippery.
“It's not an ideal day to play on the grass, it's a little damp in the air,” he said.
“It was an overcast day. I didn't expect the court to be that slippery. Of course, some parts of the court don't get played much, but I think that's a natural part of the grass.”
A Queens tournament official said: Athletic “Grass courts are living things, so they always react to the weather leading up to a tournament and usually tend to be slippery at the start of the tournament.”
“As we are all aware, the UK has experienced unusually cold and wet weather over the past few months but, as always, our excellent groundskeeping team are doing their best to adapt and are making rigorous preparations.”
This will be the last year that Queen's will host just the men's tournament, as from next year the prestigious Wimbledon warm-up tournament will become a mixed-gender tournament, initially for one year but with the possibility of running for longer in future.
In the lead up to this decision, the ATP had expressed concerns that playing the women's matches before the men's would lead to wear and tear on the courts, and on this evidence it seems likely that the women's match will give the ATP an advantage.
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(Zach Goodwin/PA Images via Getty Images)
