Evans must qualify after missing out on wild card

Dan Evans will have to go through pre-qualifying after Wimbledon opted not to hand the former top50 player a wild card either into the main draw or qualifying.

The 28-year-old has been in excellent form since returning from a 12-month ban following a positive test for cocaine, winning 10 of his 13 matches on grass, making him comfortably the most successful British player on the surface so far this year.

In acting on principle, Wimbledon has followed in the footsteps of the French Open, which declined to offer two-time former champion Maria Sharapova a wild card last year on her return from a 15-month doping suspension.

Unlike Sharapova, Evans does still have a route available into the tournament and he will take to the courts of Aorangi Park today with the other lower-ranked British hopefuls in an attempt to earn a wild card into next week’s qualifying tournament. He would need to win six matches to reach the main draw.

The outcome is what Evans expected, with the Birmingham player responding on Sunday to a suggestion his good form could earn him a chance by saying: “I’ve had easily the worst past of any British player. They’ve got their criteria. If I don’t fit it, I don’t fit it.”

Among those given chances in qualifying are Davis Cup stalwart James Ward and seven teenagers, including 15-year-olds Holly Fischer and Emma Raducanu and 16-year-old Jack Draper.

There is no place for former junior champion Laura Robson, now down at 330 in the rankings.