Express & Star

Birmingham's Dan Evans fears he’ll miss Wimbledon and Olympics

A tearful Dan Evans admitted he was “heartbroken” at the prospect of missing Wimbledon and the Olympics after suffering a knee injury at Queen’s Club.

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Just two days after he was named in the Great Britain squad for Paris 2024, Evans took a nasty fall on the grass in his first-round match at the cinch Championships against American Brandon Nakashima.

The 34-year-old Brummie fears he has damaged medial collateral ligaments in his right knee.

He has had to pull out of playing doubles with Andy Murray at Queen’s this week and will instead undergo a scan in the coming days to determine the extent of the injury.

“I’m worried, no doubt,” he said. “I mean, a good thing, I thought it was my groin. That settled down pretty much straight away.

“But I think it’s MCL, sort of a bit inside of the knee. There is an issue there, that’s for sure after the testing so far with the physios.

“So I’ve got to wait 48 hours, let it settle, and then get a scan. I’m worried, yeah. That’s the bottom line, of course. Yeah, I’m in limbo a bit.

“It’s frustrating. If I miss the Olympics or Wimbledon it would be a tough one to swallow, no doubt.

“I don’t know. I’m just, I’m heartbroken at the minute, to be honest. Yeah, it’s tough.”

Andy Murray made a winning start to his Queen’s Club farewell with a milestone victory over Australian world number 48 Alexei Popyrin.

The 37-year-old, a record five-time champion in west London, picked up his first ATP win since March in the 1,000th match of his career. He didn’t make it easy but emerged winner over three sets.