One-year drug ban for Evans
ITF show mercy for bad boy Dan, who took cocaine after a funeral
DAN EVANS has been hit with a one-year ban after his positive cocaine test — but will be able to return to tennis next April after it was backdated. Evans admitted he took the illegal substance four days prior to giving a urine sample at the Barcelona Open, on April 24. Sportsmail understands that Evans consumed the drug having attended the funeral of a close friend’s mother, who had died of cancer in early April. The 27-year-old said: ‘I want to thank everyone who has supported me throughout this difficult period. ‘I am determined to return to the sport I love.’
Dan Evans will get a second bite at his controversial tennis career after convincing the authorities that his positive cocaine test in april was not related to enhancing his performance.
The British Davis Cup player, 27, will be able to compete from late next april after being handed a backdated 12-month ban and admitting that he took the substance four days prior to giving a urine sample at the Barcelona Open on april 24.
Sportsmail understands that he consumed cocaine having attended the funeral of a close friend’s mother, who had died of cancer in early april. He took the drug during a wake after what is said to have been an emotional occasion.
On Monday april 17, Evans had lost to compatriot Kyle Edmund in the first round of the Monte Carlo Open. He flew home and yesterday’s ruling revealed that three days later he ‘ ingested a small amount of cocaine’.
The published report continues, saying that he ‘ put the leftover cocaine first in his pocket and then in a pocket of his washbag, before discarding it the next day. In the same pocket of the washbag he stored tablets of (permitted) medication’.
a doctor representing Evans and an expert from the International Tennis Federation, Professor Martial saugy, agreed that this would have been enough to contaminate the tablets to the extent that 1-3mg of cocaine — described as a ‘tiny amount’ — showed up in his sample.
‘On this basis the ITF accepts that Mr Evans has met his burden of proving on the balance of probabilities how the cocaine got into his system, i.e by inadvertent contamination of his fingers and/or the medication he was handling with cocaine residue.’
There is an acceptance that cocaine, described as a ‘ nonspecified substance’ on the prohibited list, was not taken to help him win matches.
‘It follows that Mr Evans can, in any event, establish “no significant fault or negligence” because the cocaine was used in a context unrelated to sports performance,’ says the report.
Two other things appear to have counted in Evans’s favour. The first was his prompt admission of guilt, and the second his acquiescence to an ‘agreed outcome’ with no recourse to appeal, rather than going to a ‘disputed hearing’.
The sentence could be viewed as tennis again being lenient. In august former top 10 player sara Errani received a ban of only two months when she tested positive for masking agent Letrozole.
Despite his recklessness, the so- called Enfant Terrible of the British game should be able to revive a career that has rarely been far from controversy, but was finally blooming when this latest idiocy stopped him in his tracks.
He looked to have reconciled himself to the work ethic demanded by elite tennis, to the extent that he reached the fourth round of January’s australian Open.
If one extrapolates what he may have won, a year’s ban is likely to end up costing him around £ 400,000 in prize money and endorsements, although we will never know. Clothing manufacturer Ellesse dumped him after the test was revealed.
Yesterday’s ruling formally confiscated the £90,000 of prize money he earned between Barcelona and the grass court surbiton Challenger, the last event before his public admission.
some of those close to him feared that, given his fondness for a night out, he would not have had the discipline to withstand a two-year ban, but that he would be able to cope with 12 months. He is said to have been keeping himself in reasonable shape and doing some hitting.
He will return with no ranking and begin at the bottom, as he is unlikely to receive the kind of wildcard largesse granted to Maria sharapova.
Evans said: ‘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-toodistant future.’