Dan Evans Calls Out ‘Shambolic’ LTA over Wimbledon Wild Card Snub After Career’s Final Match

Dan Evans‘ career came to an end on Wednesday (July 1). Evans, who received a wild card for doubles at Wimbledon alongside partner Henry Searle, suffered an opening-round defeat at the hands of Hugo Nys and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

The 36-year-old wanted to play in the Wimbledon singles main draw, but he couldn’t. Due to his ranking of No.385, Evans wanted the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) to award him the wild card for singles, but was disappointed upon not being given one.

Although he won his first qualifying match against Juan Carlos Prado Angelo, he lost to Tristan Schoolkate in his second qualifying match. At the press conference after his doubles defeat, Evans criticized the LTA and asked for answers as to why they decided not to hand him the wild card in spite of announcing that Wimbledon would be his career’s last tournament.

If you can’t have a conversation and be honest… Listen, if they turned around and say, Listen, you’ve hardly played. But it was, like, You’re a coach, you’re not getting one. No, I was out there helping another Brit when I’ve been injured. I didn’t see any of those guys out there helping Henry when he needed help. So that was my point. It’s nothing against the club, but somebody come and have a conversation.

Evans was part of the Davis Cup team led by Andy Murray that won the title in 2015. It was Great Britain’s first Davis Cup title in 79 years.

I enjoyed playing Davis Cup for my country more than I can tell you. It’s the best, the best thing ever. But the last month has been nothing short of a shambles from them. That’s the bottom line. You speak to people; you talk to people. So yeah, anyway, but listen, it’s nice that you feel appreciated and that they thought I’ve helped in some way. Again, I don’t think we should play tennis to get validation off certain, you know, people or whatever.

Dan Evans added

Evans, ahead of the tournament, uploaded a graphic on his Instagram story, which read that he sacrificed his 500 ranking points by skipping the 2024 Citi Open and instead featured at the Paris Olympics and played doubles alongside Murray. The three-time Grand Slam champion called time on his career after their defeat in the quarterfinals.

Dan Evans bids an emotional farewell

In his career, Dan Evans reached four singles finals and won two titles (2021 Melbourne 2 and the 2023 Citi Open). The Brit, who reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament twice and is a former World No. 21, reached the third round at SW19 three times.

It is just emotional, isn’t it? You think of your family and all the sacrifices that we’ve made. You live out your dreams here. This tournament is what I grew up watching. I remember getting home from school and watching Wimbledon, and I was one of the lucky few that got to play here in the end.

Dan Evans told BBC Sport

Before Wimbledon, Evans also did not receive a wild card for the Queen’s Club Championships. He failed to qualify for the main draw as he lost his first qualifying round match. This year, Evans did not play a single main draw match on the ATP Tour. He, in fact, also couldn’t qualify for the main draw matches in the Challenger tour.

In big events, although Evans never made it past the fourth round in Majors, he is a two-time semifinalist in the Masters 1000s. He reached the semifinals at the 2021 Monte Carlo Masters and the 2022 Canadian Open.

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