Dan Evans Fails to Advance as Thanasi Kokkinakis Claims Victory at Roland Garros 2023: French Open Results

The Curious Incident of the Foot-Fault: How it Altered the Course of dan evan’s fate in french open?

It was a day full of surprises and disappointments at Court Suzanne Lenglen as Dan Evans faced off against Thanasi Kokkinakis. The audience were eagerly waiting to see if Britain’s number two could overcome his aversion to clay courts and make a mark in this year’s French Open.

However, something unexpected happened during the match that threw Evan’s focus off completely – an unusual foot-fault ruling. He had been doing well until he was penalised for crossing the centre line when serving while being a break up in the second set, which resulted in him losing all trust in where his feet were positioned on court.

Evan’s reaction to this decision was quite interesting. While he accepted it wasn’t anywhere near why he lost, he admitted it did swing momentum back towards Kokkinakis’ favour due to his loss of faith in himself leading up until then.”I lost all trust in where my feet were,” said Evan after losing 6-4 6-4 6-4.

Dan Evan’s History with Clay Courts

Dan Evan’s love-hate relationship with clay courts is well known in the tennis world. He had a great 2022 clay-court swing leading up to this year’s French Open, where he reached the semi-finals in Marrakech and Barcelona. However, his performance took an unexpected turn when it came to Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome – the biggest tournaments going into Roland Garros – as he lost his opening matches.

Despite managing to win for the first time at Roland Garros last year, Evans has now suffered five losses in six first-round matches at this Grand Slam tournament. Going into the match against Kokkinakis, though, Evan was feeling “very prepared.”

The Foot-Fault Controversy

In warm and lively conditions against wildcard Kokkinakis, Evans struggled to get on top of him due to Thanasi’s powerful serve and forehand which forced Dan behind the baseline frequently.

The single break proved key in the opener but Evans reset at the start of the second set by moving ahead 4-1 until being penalized for foot-faulting while serving from a position of strength (leading 4-2 30-0) which affected his technique greatly. The double fault that followed swung momentum back towards Kokkinakis’ favour as Evans lost four points consecutively after being thrown completely off balance mentally by what seemed like such a minor thing initially.

After smashing a water bottle out of frustration during changeover following this incident,the British player saw himself losing five consecutive games enabling kokkinakis to take control of the set.

Despite managing to rescue a break for 4-4 in the decider, Evans was instantly broken back, and Kokkinakis went on to win the match. Evan’s exasperation at not being able to crack into the world’s top 20 after spending most of the past three years in the top 30 is apparent even now. “I’m trying to do what I think is right to get there,” he said with an air of resignation, “but it’s obviously not paying off.”

The Disappointing Outcome for British Tennis

After this loss, only two Britons – Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie – remain in contention at Roland Garros Men’s Singles championship.

This year has been particularly disappointing for fans as Emma Raducanu had to pull out due to injury,and none of seven other British players made it through qualifying rounds leading up until main draw matches.