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Dan Evans exits French Open as his frustrating run of losses continues

Britain’s Daniel Evans serves against Denmark’s Holger Rune during their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Tuesday, May 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Britain’s Daniel Evans serves against Denmark’s Holger Rune during their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Tuesday, May 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Dan Evans was left in a flap by Holger Rune, the umpire and a pigeon as he exited the French Open in the first round again.

The British number three was startled by a bird and rowed furiously with chair official Jaume Campistol before being sent packing by Danish 13th seed Rune 6-4 6-4 6-4.

The flashpoint came in the third set after Rune was warned for smashing his racket against the ground and argued his case.

In the next game Evans, a break up, was waiting to serve when Rune disputed a line call, prompting another lengthy discussion.

Evans was immediately broken and lost his rag, fuming: “He doesn’t need a conversation on my serve. Let the f****** match play.

“Do your job! You don’t have to have a conversation with him. It’s twice in two games. Madness.”

Earlier, in the second set, Evans had to take evasive action after he was dive-bombed by a pigeon.

Roland Garros chiefs are so pleased with the new roof they had installed on Court Suzanne Lenglen that they gave it an inauguration ceremony at the weekend.

France Tennis French Open
Spectators watch a pigeon fly at Suzanne Lenglen court during Dan Evans’ match against Holger Rune (Christophe Ena/AP)

But an obvious flaw is the gaps between the roof and the walls of the arena, which are big enough for pigeons to fly in, but too small for them to find their way back out.

Evans could at least force a smile as the ‘clay pigeon’ landed on the baseline and Rune and a ball kid shooed it away.

But was Rune who homed in on victory to condemn Evans to a sixth first-round defeat in seven visits to Paris.

It was also a seventh straight loss and a 16th since the turn of the year, leaving Evans slipping down the pecking order in the rankings.