AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 16, 2024

Daniel Evans

Press Conference

L. SONEGO/D. Evans

4-6, 7-6, 6-2, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Dan, a heck of a fight. Just talk us through your reflections on the match.

DANIEL EVANS: Yeah, it was a tough match obviously. Yeah, Lorenzo played good. I had my chances. It was a good atmosphere.

Yeah, I knew I was a little short coming into the tournament, so I can't ask for much more than to just put up a good fight and come out of it healthy.

I played some good tennis, yeah, and competed very well.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Particularly the way you came back in the fourth set, Dan, given that you said you were a little bit short coming into the Australian Open, it was quite a difficult situation potentially in the match, but you came back pretty strong.

DANIEL EVANS: That's all you can ask of yourself every time you step on the court is to compete until you want to stop. Yeah, I made the decision to come and play in Australia rather than stay home and practice and get fit that way. So I knew I was maybe not going to win so many matches here, and that's obviously been proven correct.

It's all good moving forward to get stronger. I'll take three weeks of fitness and then play in America and, yeah, try and win some matches on the tour, which I'm pretty confident in my game.

It's not easy to play these guys when they've obviously been fully fit playing, having a great preseason, and I'm trying to rehab a leg and not getting much physical work done, is difficult.

Again, it was my choice to come and play, and I put up a good fight and played some good tennis.

Q. Will you stay here for a bit or go straight home? Where is your next tournament?

DANIEL EVANS: I'll take a few days to sort of do some stuff for my calf and recover. Can't really just get straight on a flight right now, just leave my calf for a few days and not get it treated and work it for a few days.

It needs to have some work done, a bit of physical work, just rather than get really stiff. So I'll be here for a few days and then probably move on to the States to practice for a few weeks.

Q. (Off microphone.)

DANIEL EVANS: I'll go that way. Not sure of the tennis court there. It will be perfect out there, yeah.

Q. Take us back to the tiebreak. It's 5-4, and that forehand down the line. You win that point 5-all, it could have been a bit different, eh?

DANIEL EVANS: He was struggling, it looked like, which sort of kept me in there. He was struggling to put me away, but when he was on serve in the fourth set, he was playing good. That chance, to mentally be 5-0 up, I knew I was 4-0 up in the second set tiebreak, mentally it's not easy to come out the other side. It's neither here nor there now. I'll be all right.

Q. You maybe answered that sort of before, but if it hadn't been the Australian Open, do you think you would be playing tournaments reason, or would you still be training?

DANIEL EVANS: It was the best possible way I thought to get stronger. I did a decent preseason. It just wasn't enough. I wasn't able to do everything physically I wanted to do. I had a great week in Perth, good week in Adelaide. I practiced hard here, come and played a good match. Got four hours or three hours of tennis, whatever it was. It's good.

I have a few days off and then start up again. As I said, I'm competing hard to try and win the match, and I think that's important for the body to get back and play matches.

Q. Forgive me, I didn't recognize many faces in your box. Your wife, obviously. Who are you working with, and is that a medium-term or long-term thing?

DANIEL EVANS: I'm back working with Sebastian Prieto, and the other physios sort of did the off weeks when my old physio didn't work. Yeah, it's back with the Argentinian guys. You didn't recognize Leon? He'll be upset at that.

Q. Piper is not here?

DANIEL EVANS: Yeah, that's Sebastian. Piper, yeah. He's here.

Q. Where would you like to be sort of ranking-wise, say, by the summer? I guess it would help to be seeded in Wimbledon and such.

DANIEL EVANS: Yeah, I think my tennis is good enough to be back where I was, like 20-ish. I don't see any issues with getting back there. I'm playing good tennis. I was playing good tennis at the end of last year. I had a pretty decent year in some of the tournaments last year. I just wasn't consistent enough.

Yeah, the tennis is there. It's just winning the matches.

Q. Your career high is 21, right? Does it bother you that you have never made it to the top 20?

DANIEL EVANS: Not at all, no.