Dan Evans praised for selfless act that enabled Andy Murray’s Olympics run

Evans gave up his tennis ranking to be at the Olympics and he has helped Murray extend his career with a memorable week in Paris

Dan Evans has been praised for sacrificing rankings points to play at the Olympics and help extend Andy Murray’s career.

Evans and Murray have been on a wild ride in the men’s doubles in Paris and play Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul in the quarter-finals today.

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Murray dropped out of the singles competition and confirmed before the Olympics that the Games would be the final tournament of his historic career at the age of 37.

Evans, 34, also played in singles, losing in the second round, but in appearing at the Olympics the Birmingham player has given up the defence of his Washington title won last August.

Dan Evans gave up on the defence of his Washington title to play the Olympics (AP)

The ATP tournament is being played this week at the same time as the Olympics and in not defending his ranking points Evans will fall more than 100 places to outside the world’s top 170.

Judy Murray, Andy’s mother, shared a post on X/Twitter that praised Evans’ giving up his ranking to have a shot at the Olympics dream and said “most of you watching on Sunday and last night will not know this”.

Murray and Evans saved five match points in their opening win over Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Taro Daniel on Sunday and then another two in beating Belgium’s  Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen to reach the quarter-final. Both matches went to a final tiebreak.

Most of you watching on Sunday and last night will not know this…… ❤️🇬🇧 https://t.co/kTACSJSWcd

— judy murray (@JudyMurray) July 31, 2024

“What happened was incredible,” said Evans, who was a career-high ranking of 21 in the world. “We’re getting close. Really close to doing something pretty special.

“He [Murray] is amazing to play with and it’s an amazing atmosphere. Everything from the lodge, the village, Team GB, it’s been amazing to be a part of, I’m over the moon that I’m here.”

Evans celebrates a latest victory alongside Murray in the Olympic doubles tournament (Getty Images)