Dan Evans furiously smashed his racket during his Indian Wells exit on Thursday while fellow British star Emma Raducanu beat Rebeka Masarova.
British No.3 Evans loses his temper while playing against Roman Safiullin in the first round of the prestigious event in California.
The incident occurred in the third set on Court 3 after world No. 42 Safiullin hit a winner to break his opponent and take a 6-1 5-7 5-2 lead.
World No.45 Evans looked dejected after losing the point and then walked over to his chair before smashing his racket to the ground in anger.
‘That’s a racket smash and a half!’ the Sky Sports commentary team said as they watched Evans’ meltdown unfold before he went on to lose the third set 6-2.
Evans, 33, has endured a tough start to the season and has won just two of his eight matches in 2024.
There was better news for fellow British player Emma Raducanu in the women’s singles, who recorded a 6-2 6-3 win over world No.96 Masarova.
Raducanu could be set to face world No.2 and Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka in the third round if she can get past 30th-seed Dayana Yastremska.
The 21-year-old – a US Open champion in 2021 and ranked inside the world top 10 a year later – returned from nine months on the sidelines in January following long-term injury problems and is looking to return to the top of the sport.
Raducanu was forced to defend herself from criticism this week after it emerged she had attended the opening of a luxury hotel in Dubai just two days before crashing out of a tennis tournament.
She lost to Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina in Doha last month but had been pictured at the One&Only One Za’abeel hotel alongside ex-supermodel Naomi Campbell.
Quizzed if she would cut back on off-court events, Raducanu told The Times: ‘Not at all actually.
‘I think that I trained [with] three hours of tennis, an hour and a half in the gym and had two hours off in the evening. But I don’t know, you should tell me what I should do in my off time from 8pm till 10pm.
‘It’s basically like training in Dubai and then having a nice dinner with a lot of people. The only difference is my dinners go public.’
British veteran Andy Murray, meanwhile, faces fifth-seed Andrey Rublev in the second round after his opening victory over David Goffin.
Russian star Rublev has been slammed in recent weeks after he was disqualified in Dubai for unsportsmanlike conduct, screaming in the face of a line judge.
‘All of us players – and I think I’ve been guilty of it myself – we need to be a little bit careful of the way that we speak to officials and treat officials,’ Murray said.
‘There’s a huge difference between rugby and football – rugby is a great example for how to deal with it. Officials are dealt with respectfully and we could probably do a better job with it in tennis as well.
‘At the end of the day, we as players shouldn’t be doing that. We are the one in the wrong – not the official.’
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