Evans was speaking shortly after his entertaining 7-6, 6-3 victory over Bolivia’s Juan Carlos Prado Angelo, the world No 156. A sun-washed crowd of some 800 people relished the opportunity to watch him rush the net and stroke away his picture-perfect volleys: a style of play that now feels like a throwback to the golden age of tennis.
Despite never having played a professional match on grass before, Prado Angelo acquitted himself well in the early exchanges, and served for the first set at 6-5. At that moment, though, Evans managed to find a burst of adrenalin, breaking straight back and playing a wonderful tie-break that reminded everyone present of how he had reached a high point of No 21 in the world.
In among the flourishing shot-making, we saw some classic Evans moments – as when he told 20-year-old Henry Searle, the former Wimbledon boys’ champion whom he has been coaching this season, to stop watching him and get out of the heat, because Searle was due to play his own first-round match later in the day.
In his on-court interview with Annabel Croft, Evans accentuated the positives. “I haven’t played a bunch of tennis, and obviously I’m stopping, so this felt more like my first win than my last,” he said. “I was very nervous at the start, and especially at the end. So, I’m really happy and proud of how I came through that. It’s been a difficult season, but I’ve built a career through fighting in my matches.
“When I played qualifying the last time [in 2018, after he came back from a year-long ban for the recreational use of cocaine], it wasn’t such a big arena,” added Evans, who will play Australia’s Tristan Schoolkate in the second round of qualifying on Wednesday.
“It was actually really nice [to play here]. I don’t want to say surprising, but it was full, which is a little different to other tournaments in Britain.”