Evans pledges to return after ban
MIDLANDS tennis ace Dan Evans said he is “determined to return to the sport I love” after being handed a one-year ban following his positive test for cocaine.
The International Tennis Federation announced the length of Evans’ suspension yesterday, nearly six months after he failed the test at the Barcelona Open in April.
The ban has been backdated, meaning Evans will be eligible to play again on April 24 next year.
The 27-year-old said in a comment via his agent: “Following the announcement made from the ITF today, I want to thank everyone who has supported me throughout this difficult period. I am determined to return to the sport I love and compete at the level I know I can in the not too distant future.”
Evans was informed of the positive test in June and revealed the news at an emotional press conference.
He did not deny taking cocaine, telling the ITF, which oversees the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme, that he had done so on April 20.
The drug is only banned in competition and Evans denied taking it during the tournament, saying it had got into his system via permitted medication that he had stored in the same pocket of his washbag in which he had previously kept the cocaine.
Evans’ expert, Dr Pascal Kintz, argued the very small amount of the drug present in Evans’ test was consistent with inadvertent contamination, and that was accepted by the ITF.
That explanation, coupled with Evans’ prompt acceptance that he had taken the drug, resulted in a more lenient ban that might have been expected.
The ITF decision read: “Mr Evans cannot establish that he bears no fault or negligence for his violation because his conduct in taking cocaine and then storing it in his washbag, in the same pocket as his medication, was a departure from the rigorous standard of utmost caution required of all players under the TADP.
“On the other hand, the ITF accepts that the player has established no significant fault or negligence for his violation triggering a discretion to reduce the two- year period of ineligibility by up to 12 months.”
Although the ban is as light as it could have been, being out for 12 months means Evans will lose his ranking, which currently stands at 108 but had risen as high as 41 in March.
Central to the frustration was that Evans finally appeared to have got his career on track following previous indiscretions. He will now have to start from the bottom again, and wild cards are unlikely to be forthcoming, given the reason for his absence.
Under the terms of the ban, Evans also forfeits his prize money – around £92,000 – from Barcelona until he stopped playing in June.