sport news Emma Raducanu's victory at the US Open papered over the cracks in British ... trends now
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Isolated successes such as that of Emma Raducanu have camouflaged the true state of how Britain is faring in elite tennis.
Dan Evans will be one of just three GB players in the French Open draw when the tournament kicks off on Sunday, and in typically straightforward fashion he pointed to that as a realistic measure of where the British game is at.
In the same week as the Lawn Tennis Association reported another massive injection of funds from Wimbledon – close to £50 million - all ten of the attempted qualifiers were heading back across the Channel by the end of the second preliminary round.
That leaves only Evans, Jack Draper and Cam Norrie to contest the singles, with Norrie showing worrying signs of wear and tear as he lost in Friday’s semi-finals of the ATP event in Lyon.
Now a veteran having just turned 33, Evans is one of the few in the British game prepared to speak plainly without fear of offending the governing body, who at present cannot boast a single woman ranked in the top 100.
Dan Evans (above) will be one of just three GB players in the French Open draw
‘They've been lucky that they (the LTA) had a Grand Slam champion and she's a very good tennis player but the rankings don't lie, do they?’, figured Evans, who faces Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis on Sunday.
‘Men's, not many of us
