Dan Evans could be handed wild cards in major tournaments from this year

Dan Evans could receive wild cards into British tournaments this summer following the end of his doping ban, the Lawn Tennis Association has revealed.

The former British number two is eligible to return to competition on April 24 after serving a 12-month suspension following his positive test for cocaine.

Evans will have no ranking and, if he is not given a helping hand, will have to slog his way through the Futures Tour, offering few ranking points and little prize money and with many tournaments outside of Europe.

LTA performance director Simon Timson and Leon Smith, the head of men’s tennis and Davis Cup captain, had a meeting with Evans two weeks ago, after which the governing body said it would support the 27-year-old on the condition he showed the right attitude and commitment.

Timson said: “He appears very committed to getting back to playing at the level he was prior to his suspension.

“If he commits to working with us in the way we have discussed and he makes the progress that we expect him to make by doing that - and we will be regularly tracking and monitoring that - then we will continue to support him, as we would any other player. “We don’t condone anything he’s done but we want to help him get himself and his career back on track and that may or may not in- clude discussions about wild cards when the time is right.

“The time is not right yet and Leon and I have both been really clear with Dan on that. When he is in the right condition to start thinking about what the right tournament schedule is, we’ll decide that. Only at the point will we even start to consider discussing wild cards.”

Earlier this week, the LTA announced two new British tournaments on the Challenger circuit, the level below the ATP Tour, to be held this spring - one in Glasgow from April 28 to May 6 and the second in Loughborough from May 19-27.

While they have been seen primarily as potential comeback events for Andy Murray, they would also be very appealing to Evans.

Having given a wild card to Maria Sharapova following her comeback from a 15-month doping ban for last summer’s WTA Tour event in Birmingham, the LTA could be considered to have set a precedent. THE INDEPENDENT