EVANS DRUGS SHAME
GB tennis star admits: I took cocaine... I’ve let everyone down
DAN EVANS was last night told he had “chucked his career away” after revealing he tested positive for cocaine.
The British No.3 fought back tears to speak for 70 seconds at a London hotel and announce he failed a drug test at the Barcelona Open on April 24.
“I made a mistake and I must face up to it,” he said.
The world No.50, who
reached the fourth round of the Australian Open in January, will be provisionally suspended from Monday and faces a ban of up to four years.
Martina Hingis was banned for two years after testing positive for cocaine at Wimbledon in 2007.
Former British No.1 Andrew Castle tweeted: “He has chucked his career away. A massive mistake. Foolish.”
At a hastily-arranged press conference, an emotional Evans – who would not take questions – read a statement.
He said: “It’s really important you know this [cocaine] was taken out of competition and the context was completely unrelated to tennis. I made a mistake and I must face up to it. I do not condone for one second to anyone that this was acceptable behaviour.
“I’ve let a lot of people down – my family, my coach, my team, sponsors, British tennis and my fans.
“I can only deeply apologise from the bottom of my heart. This has been an extremely sad and humbling experience.”
Evans, 27, had been stripped of LTA funding three times, including in 2008 for being in a nightclub in the early hours during the Wimbledon doubles tournament. In March 2015, he was fined £350 for failing to turn up for a Futures event.
His former Davis Cup captain John Lloyd (below) said: “The bottom line is how many chances do you get?
“He’s had so many in his career where we’ve written him off, done things like not trained and done the things he needed to, got in trouble and then came back.
“It looked like he had finally broken through that with some tremendous performances and was a world-class player. And now this has happened. At some stage it has to change.
“It’s very sad.”