Neal Skupski has opened up on Dan Evans’ nasty injury after spending time with the 33-year-old after he hurt his calf at the Vienna Open. Evans has since been forced to pull out of the Davis Cup after playing a pivotal role in their last outing as he and Skupski won the decisive doubles rubber to get Britain into the Final 8. Speaking exclusively to Express Sport, Skupski explained that he spent the evening with Evans in Vienna after the world No 37 got a scan.
With Britain set to contest their Davis Cup quarter-final tie against Serbia in three weeks’ time, the team has been left without main man Evans after he picked up a calf injury minutes into his Vienna Open match against Frances Tiafoe. The two-time title winner was arguably the team’s MVP during the group stage held in Manchester in September, dazzling in both singles and doubles.
Even 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic had singled him out as the big threat to Serbia’s chances of advancing at the World Cup of men’s tennis. But the British No 2 was forced to pull out after scans showed that the injury was serious. Skupski, who partnered with Evans in doubles at the Davis Cup, was with the 33-year-old in Vienna when he learned the news.
“I was actually watching Dan at the time and as soon as I saw it, I knew he was in a bit of trouble,” the doubles world No 3 told Express Sport. “He had a scan and then I spent the next night with him in Vienna just to have dinner and a chat about how he was and to see if he was ok.”
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While British tennis fans hoped that the calf injury was nothing more than a little tweak, it emerged that the Birmingham native needed to spend some time on the sidelines. Skupski added: “Very disappointing for him to be out for a good length of time.
“But hopefully he gets back stronger, he’s a great player and hopefully we can get him back into the Davis Cup team as soon as possible.” It remains to be seen who is brought into the Davis Cup squad to replace Evans. With Cameron Norrie, Andy Murray and Jack Draper already in the team alongside Skupski, captain Leon Smith may look to add a doubles specialist.
As Skupski’s successful Davis Cup doubles pairing with Dan Evans has been snatched away, he has also been caught out on the ATP Tour. His partner of two years, Wesley Koolhof, recently informed him that they would no longer be playing together for the 2024 season. It means that this year’s Wimbledon men’s doubles champion must scramble to find someone else to play with.
Explaining how the surprise split came about, the former world No 1 told Express Sport: “I mean I was told on Saturday by Wesley he didn’t want to play with me anymore. I think it’s up to him to kind of tell you the reason why we’re not playing next year. But yeah, it was very unfortunate. I wasn’t expecting it.
“I don’t have anybody at the moment, I’ll start the search now. I mean, there’s a few guys that I would like to play with but I think they’re all in partnerships so I might have to ask around, see if I can break some up. But it’s going to be very difficult especially because it’s so late into the season.”
The pair are still aiming to go out on a high as they remain in the draw at this week’s Paris Masters and will compete at the ATP Finals. Yeah he’s given me a reason but I’m not going to say. It’s not my thing to say, it’s something for him to say,” Skupski added.
“We’re still going to be good friends. We’ve had a great two years together and we’ve got a lot to play for towards the end of the year. We’ve got world No 1 to play for and Turin next week so why not go out on a bang and see what happens.”
