Dan Evans needs to win an Olympic medal for Andy Murray to provide the Scot a memorable send-off.
Murray is enjoying the ultimate match of his profession in Paris and, having withdrawn from the singles, all his hopes now relaxation on a males’s doubles marketing campaign alongside Evans.
On his central position in one of many key tales of the Video games, Evans mentioned: “It’s cool but there’s nothing more I want than to get a medal for him, and for myself obviously.”
Evans is enjoying singles as properly however is focusing totally on doubles having had restricted coaching time since struggling a knee damage at Queen’s Membership final month.
The pair, who start their marketing campaign on Sunday in opposition to Japanese duo Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori, won’t be among the many favourites to win a medal however each have had success in doubles earlier than and have performed starring roles for his or her nation in Davis Cup.
“We both agreed at the start of the week that we’re going to prioritise doubles,” mentioned Evans. “It is simply the way it’s labored out with my knee at Queen’s, I needed to take a while after Wimbledon. We have put all of our efforts into that, all of our apply into that.
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Watch an prolonged interview with Andy Murray as he prepares for his ultimate ever tennis match. He explains his choice to retire, what he’ll do subsequent and why the Olympics was the right place to say farewell
“Clearly I’ve nonetheless performed some singles however we have been centered on that and we have been doing a little good work. I am unable to see any purpose why we do not have probability to do one thing particular.
“Knowing Andy as I do, he’s as competitive as ever, he’s working as hard as ever. He was out there doing sprints at the end of our session and not for one second is he here (just) to say goodbye. He’s here to win a medal and then he’ll do his own goodbye, hopefully on the podium.”
Murray ‘one of many main lights ever for Group GB’
Evans watched from afar as Murray wrote himself into Olympic historical past by changing into the primary participant to win two singles gold medals, in London and Rio.
The Scot carried the British flag on the opening ceremony in 2016, and Evans added: “There’s not many words you can say about how big an impact he’s had on British tennis, but not just British tennis, British sport. I would say he’s one of the leading lights ever to have worn Team GB kit.”
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Group GB Chef de Mission Mark England pays tribute to Andy Murray’s Olympic legacy with the two-time gold medallist asserting that this summer time’s video games in Paris can be his final match
Evans can be a veteran at 34 however this can be his Olympic debut after he selected to skip the Video games in 2016 after which was compelled out of Tokyo after contracting Covid.
He’s having fun with the expertise, though he admitted that sharing a flat with Murray and the remainder of the British males’s tennis staff has its ups and downs.
“It’s been really good,” he mentioned. “It has been very completely different to what we’re used to in a very constructive means. Roland Garros seems to be very completely different, village life is completely different to what we’re used to and it is a distinctive expertise.
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Andy Murray’s Olympic room mate and fellow Brit Cameron Norrie, was not stunned that it could be Andy’s final match as he is aware of how a lot the Olympics means to him
“Living with them lot is not easy. Apart from Jack (Draper), I guess we’ve all been on tour quite long, so we all get on pretty well. It’s the first time I’ve lived with these guys so it’s different, that’s for sure. But it’s pretty cool that you go down in the morning to see all the other athletes getting their coffee and speak to them, see what their day’s like.”
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