Kirsten McArthur and Andy Evans in the mixed doubles (00733541)

IT was a dream comeback for tennis player Andrew Evans to win a silver medal in the mixed doubles final with Kirsten McArthur yesterday.

Having only days earlier been close to ruling himself out of competing at the Games, he decided to go ahead with the mixed doubles event after pulling out of the singles – and what a decision that was.

As yesterday Evans (43) and McArthur (17) won Jersey’s first and only tennis medal of the Games which, unfortunately, came with a loss in the final against a pair from the dominant Menorca team.

Having earlier in the day beaten Aland’s Linda Jansson and Dan Andersson 6-2, 6-0 they went into the gold medal showdown against Jesus Curiel and Sara Casanovas Benejam with little having troubled them.

But it was to be Menorca’s day as they pipped Jersey to the win with a simple 7-5, 6-4 victory.
Evans said: ‘I’m so pleased to get a silver medal, we really weren’t expecting to get to the final so we did really well to do that.

‘Kirsten played really well and I think we played the best we could – we communicated well and changed things around a lot to make them work for the points. But the Menorca guy was just too strong and even the little things were going for him.

‘Personally I just really enjoyed being on court and playing because it was really frustrating at the start of the week after pulling out of the singles.

‘To be honest I never thought I would play and even after the first round of the mixed I was only walking on court but in the end I’ve probably never been so quick and it’s been a great surprise for me not only that we did so well but that I was able to move around the court.’