The player who used to use drugs won the ATP Tour championship

Prior to the tournament in Washington, Evans had a six-game streak that didn't make it past the first round. The 33-year-old unexpectedly won five matches in a row, including wins in two sets against Frances Tiafoe, Grigor Dimitrov and Tallon Griekspoor to win an ATP 500 tournament for the first time. He also rose to No. 21 in the world - career best.

Evans has been playing professionally since 2006, but has only won two titles in his career. In 2017, Evans was suspended for a year by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) because he tested positive for cocaine while attending the Barcelona Open. The then 50th-ranked tennis player held a public press conference in England, admitting to his drug use and saying being banned from competition was a "sad and humiliating" experience.

Unlike the case of Martina Hingis in the past, Evans focused more on tennis after returning from a one-year sentence. Although he has never gone beyond the fourth round of a Grand Slam, the 1.75m tall player regularly ranks in the top 30 in the world. The highlight of Evans' play is the serve and forehand, in addition to the deep and tight left cut.

"I still feel stupid sometimes, but I don't look back," Evans said of the scandal six years ago. "That year, I couldn't accept the truth and hated myself. I did terrible things during my suspension, before I saw a psychiatrist. I showed everyone that I made mistakes. Growing up, I still have a future in tennis."

In February 2021, Evans won the first title of his career when he won the Murray River Open. Since then, he has always been one of the two best tennis players in England, next to Cameron Norrie. Evans' career saw a big low this year when he lost six straight matches in the first round of ATP tournaments. Right before the Washington tournament, he was eliminated in the first round in Atlanta despite leading Dominik Koepfer 6-2, 5-4, 40-0 and having three match-points.

The ATP posted a separate video of Evans' impressive shots in the quarter-final against Frances Tiafoe in Washington, because he had so many unbelievable shots. After the game, Tiafoe said that Evans hit many balls that the player himself could not have imagined. The 33-year-old then continued the excitement, defeating Dimitrov in the semi-finals and defeating Griekspoor 7-5, 6-3 in the final, in a match he scored 26 winners and made only eight self-defeating errors.