Plan for more pastoral care after Evans’ cocaine shame
The men’s tennis tour is looking to provide more pastoral care for its players – and possibly a free counselling service – in the wake of Dan Evans’s positive test for cocaine.
Evans admitted on Friday night that he was guilty of using the drug, which was detected in a urine sample collected at April’s Barcelona Open.
Yesterday, sources suggested that he has a partial defence ready for the forthcoming hearing – whose date has yet to be confirmed – and hopes he can limit the ban to the 12 months Richard Gasquet served in 2009.
Chris Kermode, executive chairman of the Association of Tennis Professionals, said Evans deserves understanding as well as censure. Privately, ATP officials believe that they could do more to help players with behavioural issues.
“Dan has made a big mistake,” said Kermode in a statement, “and it’s a great shame for his career. It’s obviously something he has to pay the price for, and will live to regret more than anyone. While we await the outcome of his case, Dan needs support and the right people round him in the hope of getting his career back on track. The ATP will be there to help him through this process should he wish.”
Those who have worked with Evans tend to see him as a lovable scamp who suffers from weak self-control. They also talk about friends from his youth who continue to lead him astray.
In all probability, his use of cocaine was social rather than performanceenhancing, which is why the overwhelming reaction has been one of disbelief at his brainlessness.
As the former British No1 Jo Durie told Eurosport: “Dan has been given so many chances. He’s been forgiven, been given funding and then mucked it up again. So I’m just shaking my head. He’s really thrown his career away.”
Elsewhere, one of Britain’s other leading men, Kyle Edmund, has parted with his coach, Ryan Jones, after a little over 18 months. The move stemmed from frustration at the way Edmund’s world ranking has held steady somewhere around the mid-40s in the wake of his eye-catching run to the fourth round of the US Open. At 22, Edmund has already worked with four coaches.
At the Aegon Classic in Birmingham, knife-attack victim Petra Kvitova continued her comeback by beating Lucie Safarova, who retired with a leg injury, in yesterday’s semi-final. Kvitova will play Ashleigh Barty, the Australian who is back after a season of Big Bash cricket, in today’s final.