French Open 2023: 'It's a joke!' - Dan Evans hurls bottle and racquet after rant, gets code violation

Updated 28/05/2023 at 16:47 GMT

One man who was not entirely happy in the Paris sunshine was Britain's Dan Evans, who let his emotions get the better of him during his first-round match against Thanasi Kokkinakis at the 2023 French Open. Evans was hit with a foot fault during a service game which left him riled and baffled. He proceeded to make his frustration known by sending a water bottle and a racquet flying.

Evans throws bottle and racquet in frustration, gets code violation after rant

Britain's Dan Evans struggled to keep his cool after a foot fault was called on him during his French Open first-round clash with Thanasi Kokkinakis on Sunday afternoon.

In what quickly became a spicy match in the Paris heat, Evans was left stunned when a foot fault set him back during a service game, and he proceeded to express his frustration to the umpire and the line judge in question.

The 20th seed, one of the few Brits involved at Roland-Garros with no Andy Murray and no women having made the main draw, was down a set to the Australian when the incident occurred, and it led to a long delay in proceedings.

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Evans wanted answers from the umpire at the changeover, and he then took out some of his emotions on a water bottle and one of his racquets, both of which got slammed down by his chair with Kokkinakis having to scoop the former away from the side of the court.

"It's a joke!" Evans exclaimed to the umpire as he made his case against the foot fault being called on him.

"You can't see that? You didn't see that? You are obviously not paying attention either.

"If it is that obvious, you should see it! If he [the line judge] is that sure, you should see it. He is bored and doing nothing, and that is what he did.

"It's a joke! That is a joke. I can assure, I have never had that, ever."

After the bottle and racquet were sent flying, Evans was given a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct and the match eventually resumed, but that did not stop him from complaining about the situation for much of the following set.

Later on, Evans was up at the umpire's chair once more complaining after he felt that Kokkinakis' coaching team were yelling out too much ahead of points and giving him noisy guidance.

The frustrated 33-year-old eventually lost 4-6 4-6 4-6 to the Australian wild card to continue his dismal record at the Grand Slam event, where he has only one career win in seven main-draw matches.