Dan Evans Furious After Being Denied Wild Card in Career’s Last Queen’s Appearance
Former World No.21 Dan Evans will call time on his career at the Wimbledon Championships.
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Dan Evans (Image via Sky Sports)
Dan Evans expected to receive a wild card for the main draw of the Queen’s Club Championships. But to his great disappointment, he was not given one.
He wanted the wild card so much because it’s his home tournament and also his career’s penultimate tournament. Evans announced recently that he will hang up his racket after Wimbledon.
You hope to do enough years of service for your country to maybe get one in your last tournament at Queen’s, but that wasn’t the way they went. They went with some younger guys, and that’s their prerogative. It would have been a classy gesture to give me a wildcard, but obviously that was lacking on this occasion. I entered the qualifying here myself, and I got in last minute. I was a bit perplexed that the LTA didn’t offer me one into the main draw.
Dan Evans said (H/T: BBC)
Evans won the Davis Cup title with Britain’s team in 2015, which was also their first title in 79 years. Three players, ranked inside the top 150, Jack Pinnington Jones, Arthur Fery and Toby Samuel, were handed the wild cards. Evans, whose career has been affected by physical setbacks, is ranked No.244.
The 36-year-old failed to qualify for the main draw as he lost his first match in the qualifying round to America’s Marcos Giron in three sets. Prior to the ATP 500 event on grass, Evans had played two tour-level tournaments this year but did not qualify for the main draw. He lost to Rei Sakamoto and Daniel Jade in the Australian Open and French Open qualifiers.
Dan Evans now hopes to receive a wild card for Wimbledon
Dan Evans is hoping to get the wildcard for the main draw of the Wimbledon Championships, which is set to start on June 29. It was here, back in 2009, that Evans had made his Grand Slam main draw debut. He has reached the third round of the grass-court Major three times.
I think what some people have forgotten is I’m a professional tennis player, and I wouldn’t be playing if I wasn’t prepared or ready to play or fit to play. I don’t feel like I’ve been taken seriously… If [Wimbledon] they give me one or not, it’s not up to me. I feel I’ve done plenty of time of helping British tennis, off the court and on the court, so I hope to get one.
Dans Evans said (H/T: BBC)
Wimbledon offers eight wild cards. Evans, thanks to his rankings, is qualified to feature in the qualifying rounds.
Evans’ best Grand Slam performance was two fourth-round appearances (at the 2017 Australian Open and the 2021 US Open). The last time he played a Grand Slam main draw match was at last year’s Wimbledon.
Evans reached his career-best ranking of No.21 in August 2023 and has won two tour-level titles: the 2021 Murray River Open by beating Felix Auger-Aliassime and the 2023 Citi Open by beating Tallon Griekspoor. He has also played two more finals but lost them (the 2017 Sydney International to Gilles Muller and the 2019 Delray Beach Open to Radu Albot).
In Masters 1000s, Evans played two semifinals (the 2021 Monte-Carlo Masters and the 2022 Canadian Open). But in doubles, he made three finals, losing all.
At Wimbledon, World No.1 Jannik Sinner will be competing as the defending champion. He defeated arch-rival Carlos Alcaraz in four sets last year. But the seven-time Grand Slam champion won’t be playing in the grass-court Major due to a wrist injury, which he suffered during the Barcelona Open, which also forced him to skip the French Open.
Gouri Das
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