Dan Evans Breaks Silence on Not Being Given Wimbledon Wild Card: “I Was Disappointed”

Dan Evans needs two more wins to qualify for the Wimbledon main draw. Evans, who will retire after his run at Wimbledon, although he got the wild card for doubles, was not awarded the same for singles.

The former British No.1 is competing in the Wimbledon qualifying rounds for singles and defeated Juan Carlos Prado Angelo in the first match. Evans, upon being snubbed for the wild card, shared a post that read how he sacrificed his 500 ranking points by not competing at the 2024 Citi Open and instead represented Britain at the 2024 Paris Olympics and played alongside Andy Murray, who was competing in his career’s last tournament.

Evans, who was also part of the Davis Cup winning team led by the three-time Grand Slam champion in 2015, gave an interview to CLAY after his first match win in the qualifying round, describing how he felt after being denied the wild card.

I was disappointed, of course, with not getting a wild card into Wimbledon, but I wasn’t angry about it or anything like that. I had a fair idea I probably wasn’t getting one when my governing body wouldn’t give me one into a very low-level challenger (Ilkley) and Queen’s. So I had a fair idea that I probably wasn’t getting one into Wimbledon. I’ve had worse news, and I’ll have better news in life.

Evans will next be facing Tristan Schoolkate in the second qualifying match. If he wins, he will face Nicolas Mejia or Gustavo Heide in the next match.

Dan Evans on winning his first qualifier match

Dan Evans hasn’t played a tour-level match this year. The 36-year-old lost in his first qualifier match at the Australian Open and at the French Open, too; it was no different. Evans, in fact, lost all his first matches in the qualifiers in every tour-level event he played before Wimbledon.

It was amazing. Obviously, I haven’t played a bunch of tennis, and I’m stopping, so you don’t know if it’s your last match or not. I was very nervous at the start, and especially at the end.

Dan Evans said (H/T: Wimbledon)

Evans has never made it past the third round of Wimbledon, reaching the stage in 2016, 2019, and 2021. Produced his best Grand Slam performance when he reached the fourth round of the 2017 Australian Open and the 2021 US Open.

I made the decision (to retire), and I’m happy with that, but I’m not going to lie, in the matches on the grass, it has been difficult to keep my mind on the job, but I did a good job there. I’m really happy and proud of how I came through that. He was decent.

Dan Evans added

Evans has played four singles finals, winning two titles (the 2021 Murray River Open and the 2023 Citi Open by defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime and Tallon Griekspoor, respectively. It was also the last time he reached a final,

The last time Evans played a tour-level main draw match was at the 2025 Citi Open, where he reached the round of 16 and lost to Corentin Moutet. Last year at SW19, Evans suffered a second-round defeat at the hands of seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic.

The main draw of the grass-court Major kicks off on June 29. Jannik Sinner will be bidding to defend his title, while Carlos Alcaraz, who reached the final in the previous three seasons, will be skipping the tournament due to an injury sustained at the Barcelona Open. Newly crowned Grand Slam champion Alexander Zverev (beat Flavio Cobolli in the French Open final) will be chasing his first grass-court title.

Also read: Jack Draper Reflects on His Worrying Decline Following A String of Injuries in the Last Twelve Months