DAVIS CUP FINALS

November 27, 2021

Daniel Evans

Team Great Britain

Press Conference

D. EVANS/A. Mannarino

7-5, 6-4

Great Britain - 1

France - 0

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How important is it to get that first win, set the ball rolling for the team?

DANIEL EVANS: Yeah, any win, doesn't matter where. You just need two. But my job is to set the tie up for the other guys. I did well.

It was a difficult match. He obviously played No. 1 the other day. That's sort of the beauty of the competition: you can move the players around.

I think they were hoping to get that win to set their tie up. They've got a strong, strong doubles. Rinderknech is out there hitting the ball good.

That's a good win. Now it's time for the other boys to hopefully finish the tie off for us. That's what I was thinking: my job is to just set it up and get out there.

I did a good job. Hopefully we can get one of the last two.

Q. Your moustache, is that November? Is that something the rest of the lads will be doing this week?

DANIEL EVANS: None of the rest. Norrie has done it, but the others, they're too self-conscious. They're a bit boring and too self-conscious.

Q. Is it November?

DANIEL EVANS: No, the last time in, I was on the team, we did it and we won. I said, C'mon, let's go.

He needs to have a proper shave, though, Cam does. He's like not done it properly yet. He's having a proper shave tonight, but he's got one going.

Q. You appeared to be kind of really pumped up from the start. Is that kind of a conscious thing that you wanted to bring a lot of energy to it?

DANIEL EVANS: Yeah, I mean, we find ourselves in a difficult situation again with no crowds. I find it hard with no atmosphere, so I had to really use myself, use the bench, use Leon to keep pushing, keep myself focused, get an atmosphere.

I thought the French bench was great, as well. There was a little bit of atmosphere. I'm not sure if you can hear that on the TV. It was as good as it could be. It's important. You can have big upsets. When it's flat, you get yourself in a bit of a hole.

We talked about it. I think I did a good job there, like you said.

Q. You mentioned having Leon on your bench there. Can you talk about the difference in dynamic when you can talk to your coach at the changeovers, how different that is.

DANIEL EVANS: I mean, I don't know how long I've been in the team with Leon, but I've obviously played a lot of ties with him. I feel really comfortable.

If I'm honest, we didn't speak that much today. I think in the match, I don't think there was too much to say. It was so nip-and-tuck. It was more encouragement today. We've played more matches where he's been a bit more tactical.

I think today was, Geez, this is tight, stay on it. He's a great captain. That's why he's in the job so long. I mean, I've never been a captain, but I imagine the beauty of being a good manager, captain in sport is to know when to say stuff, to know when not to. I think he gets it right.

He prepares the team amazingly well. There's five different characters in the team. I think they're all ready to play. I just see how he treats my practices. I don't see the others, but the others seem pretty ready to go. I imagine he's very good with the other guys, as well.

Q. Are you keen on the idea of having a coach on your bench you can talk to? Would you ever think it's something that would be worth doing at other tournaments?

DANIEL EVANS: No, I think this needs to be kept separate to the tour. That's the beauty of this competition, is you get to sit there. This is how you notice Davis Cup and ATP Cup compared to the rest. If you're a kid, you know this tournament because the guys sat there. That's how I would identify it. I wouldn't know what Davis Cup was when I was 10, but you get to sit on the court with the team coach.

Q. Two years ago you played as No. 1, had a lot of really tough matches. Here you're No. 2, coming out first. Does it make a difference? Do you have a preference?

DANIEL EVANS: Yeah, I find it a bit more pressure coming out as No. 2. Obviously last time I come out, I was 1-nil up a lot of the time. Kedders was doing a decent job.

Your job is to open up the tie, to set it up. That's how I think it is anyway. There's no denying they're a strong, strong doubles team. We go one down, they're in form, it's a difficult doubles.

I think it would be good to get it done in the singles and not have a nervy doubles. We can win that doubles, but no one wants to be sat there 1-All. I want it to be 2-nil and out of there, yeah.