Second Serve: Dan Evans targets return to world’s top 100

In a season which became known as the year of retirements on the ATP Tour, former British number one Dan Evans had his own thoughts about how long he had left playing.

Andy Murray deciding it was the right time to stop dominated the talk in British tennis last year, while his fellow Grand Slam champions Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem also brought the curtain down on their careers in 2024.

At Wimbledon in June, Evans spoke about the awareness he had of coming towards the end of his career and the “stark reality” of not being able to compete at the same level he once did.

So it is telling Evans – who turns 35 in less than a fortnight – is still ploughing on, albeit largely on the ATP Challenger Tour which sits below the main tour.

Less than two years ago, he was ranked a career-high 21st in the world, but is now 190th after briefly dropping outside of the top 200 earlier this year.

“I’m enjoying playing tennis – I’m not enjoying where my ranking is, of course,” Evans told the BBC 5 Live Tennis programme last week.

“I’m still trying to be a tennis player, although some people are letting it known they don’t think I am.”

Evans, competing in a Challenger event in Bordeaux this week before focusing on French Open qualifying, certainly still is a tennis player.

Dropping down a level demonstrates his clear love for the sport and, perhaps, a determination to spend as much time on court as possible having been banned for a year in 2017 after testing positive for cocaine.

Making the decision to stop playing professional tennis is, for many, the hardest they will make. There is no ‘perfect’ way to say goodbye.