Jamie Murray hits back at Dan Evans for ‘lazy’ and ‘ill-informed’ comments about doubles tennis

Evans was irritated at what he perceived to be celebrating players who didn’t have the attitude to work hard enough to make it in the singles game

Jamie Murray is usually one of the most mild-mannered of players but the Scot went on the warpath here on Monday at the Australian Open as he accused his Davis Cup colleague, Dan Evans, of making “lazy”, “ill-informed” and “dumb” remarks about doubles players.

Having won his latest matches in both the men’s and mixed doubles, Murray described comments by Evans that doubles players do not work as hard as singles players as “total nonsense”. Murray said it was disappointing to hear “ignorant” comments from “someone who really hasn’t applied himself as much as he should and has made a hash of his career with his decision-making”.

Murray, pointing out that six pairs featuring British players had made it through to the second round here, had called at the weekend for better recognition of Britain’s success in doubles. He also felt the Lawn Tennis Association should have chosen Louis Cayer, who has helped most of the British doubles players and Murray in particular, as its high-performance director.

In response, Evans told the Daily Mail: “So we are celebrating people who didn’t make it at singles and people who didn’t have the attitude to work hard enough to make it in the singles game?

“I like the doubles guys and they’ve done well, but to think we should celebrate this so the kids growing up look up to this as a huge achievement is completely wrong. Kids want to be in the second round of main draw singles events not doubles.”

He added: “Who exactly has Louis Cayer ever coached apart from doubles players? Why would British tennis allow him to take charge? It’s a ludicrous comment.”

Murray, who joined forces with Bruno Soares to beat Kevin Krawietz and Nikola Mektic 6-7, 6-2, 7-5 after saving three match points and then paired up with Bethanie Mattek-Sands to beat Kristina Mladenovic and Robert Lindstedt 6-4, 6-4, said: “I’ve been playing the tour since 2007, travelling the world, working my ass off to stay at the top of the game and make a living for myself.”

The former world No 1 added: “We should be celebrating any success that we have in this sport, whether it’s singles, doubles, mixed doubles, wheelchairs, whatever.”

Dan Evans during his match against Japan’s Tatsuma Ito (REUTERS)

Murray, who described Evans as a friend, said: “If Dan does something that’s noteworthy and deserves recognition then absolutely he should get it, along with anybody else that’s got a GBR next to their name. But just to lazily trash the doubles game, it annoys me a lot.”

The Scot said it was important for young players to learn that you do not have to be a singles player to make a living from tennis.

“Of course when people start playing they want to be singles players because if you look at the prize money and the glory, that’s where it is,” Murray said. “I’m playing on a tour where 80 per cent of the prize money goes to the singles. At the Grand Slams it’s even more.

Jamie Murray was in attendance to watch what could have been brother Andy’s final match (Getty)

“We’ve got a much smaller slice of the pie, but I still manage to make a good living playing tennis – and, let’s be honest, a lot better living than what Dan has done in his career.”

Murray, aged 32, has won $4,277,708 (about £3.3m) in prize money, which is three times the $1,414,593 (about £1.1m) that 28-year-old Evans has earned. Murray has won 23 men’s doubles titles, including two at Grand Slam level, plus four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. Evans has not won any titles at tour level.

“The singles get the glory and it’s pushed that way and there are attitudes in our sport that doubles is second-rate, but it’s not like that at all,” Murray said.

“In my time of being on the tour, the fan base has grown considerably. When we go out there and play, there’s people watching, the courts are packed out and we enjoy that. It’s not like we’re playing in front of 10 people or whatever.”

Evans returned from a one-year suspension for a drugs offence last year. Earlier in his career he twice had his funding stopped by the LTA because of his off-court behaviour and lack of commitment. He once admitted that he was “pretty bad at my job” and did not train hard enough, though his work ethic has been much better in recent years and he has worked hard to fight his way back into the world’s top 200 since his suspension.

Asked whether it might be difficult for him to play alongside Evans in future British teams following his comments, Murray said: “Maybe – whatever. The doubles is going to be hugely important in the ATP Cup and the new Davis Cup.

“One of the reason for our success in Davis Cup over the years is that we’ve always been pretty much winning the doubles point. I don’t know the stats, but it’s a hell of a lot in favour – and we needed that point to be successful and go places. Obviously guys like Dan and [James Ward] had some big wins along the way, but we always needed the doubles point.”

Murray added: “Dan’s a character. He’ll shoot from the hip. He won’t necessarily think first before speaking, but if that’s how he feels, that’s how he feels. I’m sure there’s a lot of other guys that maybe think the same, but I’m not going to lose sleep over what he thinks about doubles or whatever.”