Daniel Evans is a British professional tennis player who was born on May 23, 1990, in Birmingham, England. Growing up in a sporting household, Daniel started off his sporting career playing squash before eventually making the switch to the tennis racquet a couple of years later.
By the age of 13, Evans had already moved out of his family home to train full-time in Loughborough and pursue his dream of becoming a professional tennis player. During his time in the junior system in the United Kingdom, he competed in worldwide tournaments at the junior level.
After progressing through the ranks, he gradually worked his way onto the ITF and ATP Challenger Tours before grinding out good results, which were enough to earn him his debut on the main ATP Tour in 2008 at the Queen’s Club Championships in London. Despite losing in the first round, this result earned him a bit of a name in British tennis, with him playing in the main draw at Wimbledon just a year later.
Unfortunately for the man from Birmingham, results were hard to come by during this early stage of his career, with entry into the ATP events only being granted to him via wildcards the majority of the time. In 2013, he reportedly considered quitting the sport altogether.
This sparked a period of a lack of concentration on Evans’ part, with tennis hard-cores questioning whether he should have his spot on the tour. Despite being a part of the Davis Cup-winning squad in 2015, the Brit struggled to put this good team form into his personal singles game.
Just a couple of years after this country’s victory, the Briton failed a drug test for cocaine, and the authoritative bodies handed him a one-year ban from the sport. Having served his ban, Evans appeared more motivated than ever.
A string of promising results, together with Andy Murray fading out, eventually earned him the number 1 spot in the British rankings. It was not long before he claimed his first ATP crown, Down Under in Melbourne at the Murray River Open in 2021.
Progress continued to come for the Brit, with him winning another tournament a couple of years later at the Citi Open in Washington. One thing is for sure, and that is that his career has been a tale of two halves.
Some say the best thing to happen to him was his ban, with him coming back more motivated than ever and proving any doubters wrong. This grit and determination has become a defining feature of the Englishman in recent years, with him earning himself thousands of fans both in and outside of his home country.
