During the 2025 Eastbourne Open, Dan Evans took the grass to square off against Tommy Paul. Tommy, wearing a custom New Balance shirt in gradations of green and mid-calf socks matching his signature trucker hat, seemed the epitome of modern tennis style. Square-jawed, 6’1”, with a lean athletic build, Tommy is the consummate all-American jock. US Weekly, Gayety, and the Nothing Major podcast have all listed Tommy one of the hottest players on tour—a Ranker.com poll placed him No. 1.
Across the net—and across an aesthetic chasm—stood Dan Evans. Dan is listed at 5’9”. That is almost certainly generous. At 35 years old, Dan is balding and slightly pigeon-toed, his central incisors jut over a row of crooked lower teeth, his mid-section is somewhat soft. As always, Dan sported low-cut ankle socks, an unfashionable choice he attributes to concerns about tan lines. To be blunt, Dan looks more like an Aston Villa soccer hooligan than a professional tennis player. If Tommy is a walking 2000s Abercrombie catalogue, Dan is the human embodiment of four pints of beer and a cigarette.
But on that day in Eastbourne, it was the unseeded Evans who beat Paul in three sets. And what if I told you that not only was he victorious in that match, that Evans is the true pinnacle of tennis cool. That in a tour filled with monied, modelesque athletes, no one is as appealing, swaggering, and unique as Evans. Nobody has ever called Evans the hottest player on tour. What this essay presupposes is, maybe he is.