'She should have been fully committed'

Dan Evans accused Emma Raducanu of not being “fully committed” following her decision to withdraw from her eagerly anticipated mixed doubles appearance with Andy Murray.

Evans, who will team up with Murray in what is likely to be his last tournament at this month’s Paris Olympics, insisted he did not blame Raducanu for wanting to prioritise her singles campaign but described the situation as “unfortunate.”

Raducanu had initially spoken avidly about the prospect of teaming up with Murray after he invited her to play with him in a late-night text message last Tuesday.

But on Saturday afternoon, Raducanu’s management team announced that she was unable to honour the arrangement due to stiffness in the right wrist.

The 21-year-old’s decision was ill received by Judy Murray, who made her feelings felt on the matter after describing it as “astonishing” in a controversial post on social media.

Raducanu claimed to have been unaware of Murray’s post after her fourth-round defeat by New Zealand’s Lulu Sun on Sunday and refrained from passing judgement on the high-profile tennis mother in her post-match press conference afterwards.

When it was explained to her, she replied: “I’m sure she didn’t mean it.”

Evans, however, offered up his own verdict on the situation in his Daily Mail column published on the newspaper’s website on Monday evening.

The British men’s No 3 wrote: “It’s just unfortunate how it played out, with Emma pulling out a few hours before their match on Court No 1 because she had a sore wrist. Of course the singles is a player’s priority – the prize money on offer is substantially more – and that will always be Emma’s main focus.

“But once you agree to play doubles with someone – especially in a special situation like this – then you should be fully committed to it. I recently played doubles with Andy at Roland-Garros and he waited around all week to play with me, having been knocked out in the singles.

“I can’t blame Emma for pulling out but there’s a lesson in there about not committing unless you’re 100 per cent on board.”

Evans added that he was “incredibly fortunate” to link up with Murray at the Paris Olympics in what is likely to be his final tournament before the three-time grand slam champion retires from the sport.

It will be a fifth Games for the 37-year-old Murray, who picked up gold medals in singles in 2012 and 2016 as well as a silver medal in mixed doubles with Laura Robson in London.

Click here to read article