28 May 2024 , 21:29
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Dan Evans launched a furious rant at a French Open umpire after crashing out at Roland Garros in the first round again - with a pigeon also leaving him in a flap.
Evans, the British No.3, was startled by a bird and rowed furiously with umpire Jaume Campistol - before being sent packing by Danish 13th seed Holger Rune 6-4 6-4 6-4.
The flashpoint on Tuesday came in the third set after Rune was warned for smashing his racket against the ground. In the next game Evans, who was a break up, was waiting to serve when Rune disputed a line call, prompting another lengthy discussion.
Evans was immediately broken and lost his rag, fuming: “He doesn’t need a conversation on my serve. Let the f****** match play. Do your job! You don’t have to have a conversation with him. It’s twice in two games. Madness.”
An incident in the second set also saw Evans take evasive action after he was dive-bombed by a pigeon. Roland Garros chiefs have installed a new roof on Court Suzanne-Lenglen and gave it an inauguration ceremony at the weekend.
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But an obvious flaw is the gaps between the roof and the walls of the arena, which are big enough for pigeons to fly in, but too small for them to find their way back out. Evans could at least force a smile as the ‘clay pigeon’ landed on the baseline and Rune and a ball kid shooed it away.
But was Rune who homed in on victory to condemn Evans to a sixth first-round defeat in seven visits to Paris. It was also a seventh straight loss and a 16th since the turn of the year, leaving Evans slipping down the pecking order in the rankings.
A pigeon made an appearance during Dan Evans' French Open match (Getty Images)After his sixth consecutive Tour-level defeat, the Evans said: “I'm fed up with the umpires, flat full stop. Having a conversation on somebody else's serve, you don't see it in any other sport. In rugby they get 10 metres or whatever, squash you're not allowed, it's no talking. It was just a chat. And I'm waiting to serve. It's freezing on the court. The match was flowing great and then f****** just stopped in the middle.
“They also don't understand the human side of it. You're under a hell of a lot of pressure there. I lost my rhythm. But we're normally the ones who lose out. But he'll be back in work again tomorrow.”
Asked if umpires favour big-name players, Evans added: “You have to be a strong character to come down but remember they do pretty much exactly the same as we do when we all wake up in the morning. They are humans and I think some of them forget that.”