Andy Murray’s ‘happy tears’ as Dan Evans makes confession about his doubles partner after latest miracle

Shahida Jacobs 31 Jul 2024 7:53 AM

Andy Murray and Dan Evans celebrate the Olympics

Great Britain's Andy Murray and Dan Evans celebrate after their win at the Olympics

Andy Murray has made no secret of the fact that he loves the Olympics and his men’s doubles partner Dan Evans admits it looks like the tennis great “doesn’t want to go home”.

There were tears of joy at the end of Murray and Evans’ latest Paris 2024 encounter as they once again saved match points, this time saving two to defeat the Belgian pair of Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-3, 6-7 (8-10), 11-9.

Their match points saved tally for the tournament is now up to seven as they came 7-9 down in the deciding tie-breaker to book their place in the quarter-final.

With Murray playing in the final tournament of his career, there were emotional scenes from the former world No 1 as his storied career will have at least one one more match.

“If I was standing here having lost that, I think Dan and I would have been very disappointed as we played much better than the first match,” Murray said.

“I served way better and we deserved to win. Great to save a couple of match points but it shouldn’t have got to that stage.

“It’s unbelievably emotional. You’re unbelievably happy and then for whatever reason, I don’t know why but happy tears.

“I don’t know why that’s the case but I was really emotional at the end of the match. Happy, exciting that we managed to get through another amazing finish. It takes a lot out of you so I’m grateful for a day off tomorrow.”

Evans was delighted that he managed to keep Murray’s career going as they look to build “something pretty special” at the Olympics.

“What happened again was incredible,” said Evans. “We’re getting really close to doing something pretty special. We played great tonight. People see that, see how good we’ve been in tight moments, and we’re getting better and better.

“I thought we were unlucky not to win 7-6 in the second set. How that volley went in, I still don’t know. I don’t think he wants to go home, does he? He’s amazing to play with. I’m over the moon that I came.”

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While the British pair will take a breather on Wednesday, American duo Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul will face Dutchmen Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer for the honour of playing Murray and Evans.

The 37-year-old, a two-time Olympic singles gold medallist, knows they need to “switched on” in their next match.

“We were very lucky in the first match and today we weren’t,” said the 37-year-old, who seemed almost as excited to add two new Olympic pins to his vast collection in the media mixed zone.

“The margins are so fine, we need to perform at a really high level in a couple of days’ time to go through.

“And you build confidence by winning matches like that and I think your opponents see that, that you’re coming back when you’re behind and that builds belief.

“But you can’t have that mentality of ‘Oh this is just going to happen now.’ We need to be switched on for the next one and let’s see what happens in a couple of days.”