Dubai: Britain’s Dan Evans says maturity is responsible for his sudden rise up the rankings, from World No. 763 in June 2015, to his current career high of 44th.

The 26-year-old from Birmingham was once dubbed the bad boy of British tennis, and twice had his funding scrapped for going out partying the night before games.

But after his part in Great Britain’s 2015 Davis Cup win, he’s gone on to win three of the five ATP Challenger Tour finals he reached in 2016, and has started 2017 with his first ATP final appearance in Sydney, followed by his best run in a Grand Slam, reaching the fourth round in Melbourne, last month.

“There are other things in life than just tennis and I obviously had to explore them first and see what they were like,” said Evans on the sidelines of Saturday’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship draw.

“They weren’t so good, tennis was a better option, and the rewards are good as I’m finding out now.

“Now I’d say I’m more mature and as you get older you find out that sooner or later you have stuff, like a house, to pay for, so you’d better start winning some matches,” added the British No.2.

“Bad things happened, but I don’t really look back at them that much anymore, now it’s more about just looking ahead to each match, and that’s what I look forward to most, more than training.”

Evans was drawn against Germany’s World No. 84 Dustin Brown, whom he’s never played against, in the first round in Dubai, where both players are making their debut. They face a possible second round with fourth seed Gael Monfils and a quarter with sixth seed Roberto Bautista Agut, before potentially meeting one of either second seed and defending champion Stan Wawrinka, or fifth seed and two-time Dubai runner-up Tomas Berdych, in the semis.

“I just look ahead to Dustin and that’s it for me,” added Evans. “I’ll see what happens and if I win I’ll go into the next day the same, it’s no big secret.

“I’ll just take it each match and each tournament at a time. I’m not looking ahead or anything, it’s just simple stuff.”

Asked if his sudden rise had left him feeling a bit overwhelmed when he comes into a big tournament, he said: “No, I’m comfortable, but I do also still feel a little on edge to be here. But that’s a good thing as it keeps me grounded.

“The fact these tournaments aren’t every day, they are not monotonous or a habit — this is only my second ATP 500 — leaves me looking forward to things and excited, and that’s a good thing in order to beat Dustin.”