WIMBLEDON WILDCARD SNUB FOR EVANS
WIMBLEDON opted to take the moral high ground yesterday when they ignored the recent form of Dan Evans and refused him any sort of wildcard into this year’s Championships. But former French Open champion Sue Barker was among those who questioned why the year-long ban for his social use of cocaine should be held against him when his suspension expired in April. The influential BBC presenter said: ‘I feel like Dan has served his time and should be entitled to a wildcard, at least into qualifying. ‘He has put his hands up and apologised and now he’s back and playing good grass-court tennis. ‘I would be interested to know what the thinking of the wildcard committee was because I just don’t understand this one.’ Sources at the All England Club confirmed the reasons for the refusal were not purely tennis related. That much was clear, given the complete superiority of Evans’ recent record compared to the two main draw wildcard recipients among British men, Jay Clarke and Liam Broady. Evans will now try to reach SW19 via a Brits-only tournament that begins today, with 16 players contesting a prize of two entries into Wimbledon qualifying. Andy Murray, meanwhile, is recovering from his first match back against Nick Kyrgios and discussing with his team how he will approach Wimbledon. He had a warning, though, from three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka about the process of returning. The Swiss, who missed the second part of last season after knee surgery, said: ‘He was moving, playing well, knowing he’s been away for a year,’ said Wawrinka, who lost in round two of the Fever-Tree Championships to American Sam Querrey yesterday. ‘But if I take my experience, what’s important is how he’s going to be in the next match. ‘My first match was in Australia and, two days after, I was not feeling pain but my body was off. I lost 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 but I couldn’t really do anything. I felt dead. ‘That’s mentally tough, so you need to learn from it, you need to adapt and accept it and be patient.’