LTA under fire over wild-card snub to Evans

MP asks ruling body to explain hardline stance Briton wins 11th match since his drugs ban

The Lawn Tennis Association’s reluctance to give Dan Evans wild cards is looking increasingly awkward as he wins match after match.

Evans remains a divisive figure in British tennis after his doping ban, yet his case was taken up yesterday by a member of parliament, who wrote to the LTA chief executive, Scott Lloyd, in protest.

On the court, Evans (below) beat world No153 Mats Moraing yesterday to move into the quarter-finals of the Surbiton Challenger – an event in which no other British male survived the first round. He has now won 11 matches since his ban for recreational cocaine use expired on April 24, and lost only two.

“It would be helpful if the LTA could clarify what their position is with regard to the support they are giving Dan,” wrote Toby Perkins, the Labour

MP for Chesterfield.

“He has been punished, what attitude is his home association now taking towards supporting him?

“Is there some hidden or residual punishment still being applied by the LTA?”

This has been a sensitive question for Lloyd and LTA performance director Simon Timson. They have offered support behind the scenes, as well as a wild card into qualifying for the Glasgow Challenger in early May, which did at least allow Evans to earn himself a ranking. But they have been reluctant to go further.

A statement by the LTA yesterday suggested that the wind might be changing at Roehampton, with Evans’s fine performances to date – which he will hope to continue today against former French Open semi-finalist Jurgen Melzer – casting him in a more favourable light.

“We have been pleased with the progress Dan has been making,” said an LTA spokesman, “and he continues to meet our ongoing monitoring standards.”

Meanwhile, former Wimbledon champion John Mcenroe has predicted that Andy Murray could face “semi-humiliation” if he chooses to play at Wimbledon this year after his hip operation.

Yet Mcenroe also suggested that the gamble might be worth it, just for the buzz of competing again.

“It’s worth taking semi-humiliation. You’re still out there doing something you love, in a way,” said Mcenroe, who skipped more than half the 1986 and 1987 seasons as a result of burnout. “You’re not as good as you were. It will be pretty tough to come back and be better than he was, unless I’m missing something when you have hip surgery.”