"They get involved when there's no need" - Dan Evans hits out at chair umpire after foot fault and code violation headline Brit's French Open exit

Dan Evans lost his composure and his first round match at the 2023 French Open in what turned out to be an eventful encounter against Thanasi Kokkinakis, with the scoreline reading 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in favour of the Australian.

Evans was pulled up for a foot fault after a positive start in the second set when he led 4-1 and proceeded to hurl a bottle and a racquet following an altercation with the umpire. This, in turn, led to a code violation for the 33-year-old.

The Briton failed to recover following the incident and acknowledged as much after the match while asserting that the umpires "get involved when there's really no need."

"Whoever it is up in the chair, they find a way, and they're good at it. They get involved plenty. They need to look back at Rome. They get involved on this surface when there's really no need to," Evans stated.

"I obviously knew it was a rule, but tend to know where my feet are, where I'm standing. It (the foot fault) obviously threw me quite a bit terms of knowing where I was then serving from. My technique sort of got thrown out. Yeah, it was difficult from then on", he added as part of a post-match press conference.

The Birmingham-born player revealed that the foot fault resulted in him "losing trust" in where his feet were for the remainder of the match.

"I sort of lost all trust in where my feet were. It's a very minor thing, but it became a pretty big thing in my head. It was then difficult to get away from that, especially on second serve because I just didn't feel I knew where I was on the court. It's strange," he added.

Dan Evans also stressed that umpires and line judges should be held responsible for their actions just as the players are.

"Players are held responsibe, but the umpires and line judges are not" - Dan Evans

Evans stressed that only players and not umpires are held responsible

After being reminded in the press conference that he was on a good run in the second set until the foot fault happened, Dan Evans lamented that he "would go through the same cycle" as he would obviously be fined for his on-court behaviour.

"Disruptive, wrong, a few other things you could say about it. Then, yeah, and then 15-30 or 30-15 he hits. I serve on the line. His net cord goes over. Yeah, it's what it is, isn't it? It's the game. But, once again, the players are held responsible, but the umpires and line judges are not held responsible." Evans explained.

"I'll be getting fined, obviously, for breaking the water bottle. We'll just go through the same cycle again, yeah," he stated.

Evans, who lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals of the 2023 Barcelona Open, also opined that the foot fault was called from too far.

"If they're going to call that foot fault, it shouldn't be from 35 meters away, from fence to fence through a net. But, again, that's not the reason I lost, but I was right in the match at that point," the 33-year-old said.

Cameron Norrie and Jack Draper are now the only British players who remain in contention at the 2023 French Open following Dan Evans' exit.