Andy Murray withdrew from the men's singles but will partner Dan Evans in the men's doubles event at the Paris Olympics; Murray is retiring from professional tennis after this summer's games, having missed Wimbledon through injury
Saturday 27 July 2024 10:31, UK
Dan Evans wants to win an Olympic medal for Andy Murray to give the Scot a memorable send-off.
Murray is playing the final tournament of his career in Paris and, having withdrawn from the singles, all his hopes now rest on a men's doubles campaign alongside Evans.
On his central role in one of the key stories of the Games, Evans said: "It's cool but there's nothing more I want than to get a medal for him, and for myself obviously."
Evans is playing singles as well but is focusing mostly on doubles having had limited training time since suffering a knee injury at Queen's Club last month.
The pair, who begin their campaign on Sunday against Japanese duo Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori, will not be among the favourites to win a medal but both have had success in doubles before and have played starring roles for their country in Davis Cup.
"We both agreed at the start of the week that we're going to prioritise doubles," said Evans. "It's just how it's worked out with my knee at Queen's, I had to take some time after Wimbledon. We've put all of our efforts into that, all of our practice into that.
"Obviously I've still played some singles but we've been focused on that and we've been doing some good work. I can't see any reason why we don't have a good chance to do something special.
"Knowing Andy as I do, he's as competitive as ever, he's working as hard as ever. He was out there doing sprints at the end of our session and not for one second is he here (just) to say goodbye. He's here to win a medal and then he'll do his own goodbye, hopefully on the podium."
Evans watched from afar as Murray wrote himself into Olympic history by becoming the first player to win two singles gold medals, in London and Rio.
The Scot carried the British flag at the opening ceremony in 2016, and Evans added: "There's not many words you can say about how big an impact he's had on British tennis, but not just British tennis, British sport. I would say he's one of the leading lights ever to have worn Team GB kit."
Evans is also a veteran at 34 but this will be his Olympic debut after he chose to skip the Games in 2016 and then was forced out of Tokyo after contracting Covid.
He is enjoying the experience, although he admitted that sharing a flat with Murray and the rest of the British men's tennis team has its ups and downs.
"It's been really good," he said. "It's been very different to what we're used to in a really positive way. Roland Garros looks very different, village life is different to what we're used to and it's a unique experience.
"Living with them lot is not easy. Apart from Jack (Draper), I guess we've all been on tour quite long, so we all get on pretty well. It's the first time I've lived with these guys so it's different, that's for sure. But it's pretty cool that you go down in the morning to see all the other athletes getting their coffee and speak to them, see what their day's like."
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