Coach David Felgate: 'This is Dan Evans's time'

It is all a far cry from 12 months ago, when Evans was persuaded by his coach, David Felgate, to train through the pain after missing out in qualifying.

And an even bigger difference to two years ago, when Evans did not know what the future held after being forced to announce just before Wimbledon that he had failed a drugs test for cocaine.

Now he is on the verge of breaking back into the top 50 and will play in the last 32 at the All England Club for only the second time.

Felgate said of Evans' tears: "I totally got it. I felt that way myself walking back to the locker room because you know where he's been and I know what he put in trying to come back last year."

What has been most striking about Evans since his return is the professionalism of his approach and just how much he wants to win tennis matches and maximise his potential.

It was not always like that, and Felgate, who coached Tim Henman for much of his career, said: "Everybody's journey is different and everybody's maturity is different.

"Everybody keeps their main character and he will always be Dan. You don't want to take certain elements of that away but it's about tempering it and trying to advise him. He's fun to be around, he's a pleasure to work with.

"You look at the longevity of so many players now. Somebody said making up for lost time, I don't believe in that. Every point along the way has a purpose. This is his time now. Let it continue, work hard."

It took Evans less than a year after returning last April without a ranking to get back into the top 100, but it has not all been smooth sailing for the 29-year-old.

His first match of the season at a second-tier Challenger in Australia ended in defeat to Kamil Majchrzak, and Felgate said: "When he walked off court that's the lowest I've seen him in all our time.

"It was emotional then. I guess that's when as a coach you have to believe in the process, believe he did the right things, believe in the player, and we just packed our bags and went off to Melbourne and started practising and the rest since then is history.

"You just have to keep working, boring stuff, but it is about consistency and doing it day in and day out. He's too good a player, if he does all those things, not to have success."

In Melbourne, Evans qualified for the Australian Open and acquitted himself well in a second-round loss to Roger Federer.

So well that Federer subsequently invited him to a short training camp in Switzerland and the pair have been practice partners at Wimbledon this week.

Evans then went on to make his second ATP Tour final in Florida as a qualifier and began his grass-court campaign with two titles at Challenger level.

No one has won more matches on grass this season than the Brummie, who is ranked eight places higher than Sousa, but Felgate is not about to start preparing for a clash with Nadal just yet.

"Of course the opportunity presents but if you were to speak to Joao Sousa today and his team, they'd be saying exactly the same thing," he said.

"For me it's not about who might wait in the next round, it's about getting through to the next round, what the points do, what it does to get into tournaments later in the year."

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