Former British No 1 Dan Evans has savaged Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina for his complaints about the ATP’s ‘extremely early’ scheduling at the Canadian Open.
The 35-year-old tore into his fellow Tour player, labelling his claims as ‘pathetic’.
It followed Fokina’s public denouncement of the ATP following their decision to schedule his round of 32 match against Jakub Mensik on Friday at 11am local time when the other four matches are set to take place no earlier than 1:30pm.
The world No 20 released a statement expressing his ‘disappointment and frustration’ with tennis top governing body, who he also claimed have failed to deliver on their promises in the past.
‘We’re staying one hour away from the club, which means we have to wake up extremely early to arrive in good condition,’ wrote Fokina.
Evans, who made it to the round of 16 at the Citi Open last week, hit back on social media and urged Fokina to stop complaining and get on with it.
Former British No 1 Dan Evans has savaged Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina for his complaints about the ATP’s ‘extremely early’ scheduling
The 35-year-old British star tore into his fellow Tour player, labelling his claims as ‘pathetic’
The world No 20 released a statement expressing his ‘disappointment and frustration’ with tennis top governing body
‘Wake up and play,’ he wrote. ‘The world wakes up and works 9-5 even 8-6. Pathetic.’
Evans has never been one to shy away from sharing his true feelings about the issues affecting the sport.
Ahead of this year’s Wimbledon, he criticised tennis stars who moan about injury or illness to explain away defeats, saying they should: ‘Just f***ing shake the guy’s hand and say well done.’
‘This day and age somebody is never better than us. It’s always, we are tired,’ he added.
‘If you’re sick, you’re sick. That’s part of being a tennis player. Tiredness, the schedule – you can take time off. It’s not an excuse. You have lost. That is it. Pull your calf in the first match you lose. It’s sport, isn’t it?’
The British player’s latest swipe followed Fokina’s lengthy complaint about the ATP, in which he also revealed a request to amend the schedule had ben ignored.
‘We’ve asked for a change, but the answer was that everything has already been sold, tickets, TV rights, etc. Once again, it’s clear that players are not taken into consideration,’ the Spanish player added.
‘Today it happened to others, tomorrow it’s me, and from the day after, all matches return to 12:30. There are plenty of available courts, yet we’re the only ones playing at 11:00.
Ahead of this year’s Wimbledon, Evans hit out at tennis stars who moan about injury or illness to explain away defeats
‘The ATP always promises they’ll fix things, but nothing ever changes. This isn’t the first time it happens, and when you’re inside, you realise it’s not as great as it looks from the outside.’
A round of 16 clash against sixth-seed Andrey Rublev or Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego awaits Fokina if he can defeat Mensik on Friday.
