British player Dan Evans accused Sydney officials of being ‘scared’ and labelled them a ‘f—ing embarrassment’ to the sport during his three-hour semi-final loss to Aslan Karatsev at the Sydney Classic last night.
Evans, who went down 3-6, 7-6, 6-3 lost his composure early in the deciding set when he went down a break and his rival took a bathroom break.
New rules on the ATP Tour allow three minutes for a toilet break and another two minutes for a change of clothes.
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Evans wanted to know how long Karatsev had spent in the bathroom and then went off at Egyptian chair umpire Adel Nour and the court supervisor over a lack of clarity regarding Karatsev’s movements.
“That’s a f—ing embarrassment to the sport, embarrassing. F–k him,” Evans screamed, before being called for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“You guys sit there every week and do nothing,” he added.” ‘Keep the same f—ing clothes! No-one on this tour plays tennis without running.
“You (chair umpire) sit there on your walkie-talkie, why do you have that? I want an answer. Have you got an answer? How long was he off the court? Tell me, I want to know.”
The increase in emotion seemed to help Evans as he claimed back his break to go 3-2 behind in the deciding set.
Then at the change of ends, he continued the rant. “I think you’re scared to make decisions. Every week. That’s not the rule. Five minutes to change his shorts and t-shirt? Five minutes? Good effort.”
Evans was hoping to win the clash in order to set up a first ever all-British ATP singles final in the Open Era, with Andy Murray waiting to play the winner after a three-set victory over Reilly Opelka.
Karatsev hit 49 winners to reach his fourth ATP Tour final after bursting onto the scene at the 2021 Australian Open by becoming the first player in the Open Era to reach the semi-finals on his Grand Slam main draw debut
“It was a tough match against Evans,” said Karatsev. “He’s a guy who doesn’t give you any free points at all.”
Karatsev will look to win his third ATP title against Murray tonight.
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