The 37-year-old says this is ‘probably’ his last summer of tennis but the venue of his departure is yet to be confirmed – or decided.
NOTTINGHAM — British No 3 Dan Evans says he will tell his grandchildren about playing doubles with Andy Murray at the Paris Olympics – if they get in.
Murray, 37, says he is “not 100 per cent sure” he will compete at the Olympic Games this summer, because of concerns he would not get into the doubles draw.
Team GB have had to change their plans after Neal Skupski dropped out of the doubles top 10 rankings on the eve of the entry deadline, losing his automatic place.
It means Iain Bates, head of the GB’s Olympic tennis team, has had to reshuffle the pack, abandoning the idea of Skupski playing with Dan Evans and instead pairing him with world No 5 Joe Salisbury.
Evans is now expected to be nominated with Murray on Sunday, reprising the partnership they formed at the French Open last month.
“Playing with him any time is special. I’ll have to improve a bit from the French, I imagine!” said Evans. Murray and Evans lost in the first round at Roland Garros.
“He’s a legend of the sport and a legend of British sport, so to team up with him would be the stuff dreams are made of, in the Olympics representing Great Britain. I’ve never had the the chance in Davis Cup [to play with Murray].
“If I did get a chance that would be something to tell the grandkids about and hopefully get a medal.”
There is no guarantee that Murray and Evans will get in though, with only 32 teams accepted into the doubles draw.
“There’s obviously a lot of permutations. I don’t know the ins and outs but I think it goes on accreditations, something nuts like if two singles players are ranked higher, they get in over singles and doubles,” Evans added.
“I’ve paid no attention to that. I’ve been trying to win tennis matches.”
If they do not get into the doubles as a team, Murray says he may not play the Olympics at all – a decision which has implications for his retirement plans.
“I’m not 100 per cent sure what the situation is with the doubles there yet, if I just get in the singles whether or not I will play. I don’t know,” he said after his first-round defeat to Marcos Giron at the Stuttgart Open on Tuesday, his third straight loss.
“My body didn’t feel great playing on the clay in the last month or so. I had quite a few issues with my back, so I don’t know if I would go just for singles. I need to wait a little bit and see on that.”
Murray has already said he will “probably” not play longer than this summer, and if he does not end up going to the Olympics, then Wimbledon would feel like a natural endpoint.
However, the US Open at the end of the summer is also a tournament where he has a considerable amount of history, having won there as a junior and then, his first grand slam title, as a senior.
Despite their combined ranking of 159, Evans and Murray do still stand a decent chance of getting into the Olympic doubles tournament, although the entry system is, even by IOC standards, particularly nebulous.
Britain’s success in the format year-round looked to have simplified things, because players ranked in the top 10 are guaranteed a spot and have free choice of partner.
That had included Skupski and Salisbury, until the former’s poor run of form – he has won only two matches in grand slam and masters events this year and has no regular partner – saw him slip to 12th in the world.
It means he would have to rely on the combined ranking, with his partner being high enough to get in, but instead will play as Salisbury’s chosen partner.
A third complicating factor is the quota; no more than 86 male players may enter the Olympics, so if that figure is reached (when taking into account the 64-man singles draw) by the time 24 teams have been accepted, players already entered into the singles are given priority to fill up the draw.
That quota is almost always reached, which is why GB have chosen to change their approach ahead of nominations to maximise their chances of having two medal-contending teams in the draw; Murray and Evans will be ahead of other doubles pairs in the entry list.
And there will be no shortage of high-profile doubles teams at the Games, with22-time major champion Rafael Nadal and French Open winner Carlos Alcaraz confirmed as a Spanish entry.
