By Dan Kost
British tennis player Dan Evans' singles career likely came to an end Wednesday with a defeat in the second round of Wimbledon qualifying.
Evans, 36, fell 7-5, 6-0 to Australia's Tristan Schoolkate in what he expects will be the final singles match of his professional career. Speaking afterward, Evans made it clear he wasn't surprised that a Wimbledon wild card never came.
“Listen, I knew the wild card wasn’t coming long before,” Evans said. “I know a lot of the people in tennis have big titles, and in that building (referring to the All England Club) over there. I’ve grown up around clubs, so I can read people. When they don’t say hello to you and certain things, you have a fair idea. They keep their distance. I’m not the only one, either. I knew it wasn’t coming. And you know what, I actually really enjoyed that court.”
He continued, “And without the wild card, I wouldn’t have gotten a chance, so they actually helped me have a better experience than I thought I was going to have. It was amazing and great fans out there, and hopefully some Brits are on that court tomorrow and qualify.”
The All England Club did not give an immediate response when asked for comment on the story. Wimbledon’s website says its wild card system is for players who don’t have a high enough ranking to qualify automatically for The Championships but are still selected for the main draw at the discretion of the Committee. “Wild cards are usually offered based on past performance at Wimbledon or to increase British interest.”
Evans, who reached a career-high ranking of world No. 21 in 2023, received a standing ovation as he walked off Show Court 1 after what is likely his final singles match. Fans sat through extreme heat to watch him play, with the match also disrupted by a lengthy delay after a power issue linked to high temperatures at the Wimbledon Qualifying and Community Sports Centre in Roehampton, southwest London. Wimbledon remains the only Grand Slam that stages its qualifying event off-site.
Evans, the son of a nurse and an electrician and originally from Birmingham, has had a career marked by both setbacks and comebacks. The Lawn Tennis Association cut his funding when he was 18 after he went out drinking before a Wimbledon boys’ doubles match. He later served a one-year suspension in 2017 after testing positive for cocaine. “It all helped me, to be honest,” Evans said of his early career during an interview with The Tennis Podcast.
He has been given a Wimbledon wild card for men’s doubles alongside 20-year-old British player Henry Searle, whom he also coaches. However, Evans said he knew the writing was on the wall after being left out of the ATP Challenger event in Ilkley earlier this month.
“If you’re not getting one there (at Ilkley), I think you don’t need to be a rocket scientist, which I certainly am not, to work out I wasn’t getting one into the main draw of Wimbledon or getting any help,” he said. “I wrote my letter as well as I could. Maybe my punctuation and grammar wasn’t great. It got there, at least. I know it got there.”
Evans, who teamed up with Andy Murray in men’s doubles at the 2024 Paris Olympics during the three-time Grand Slam winner’s final tournament, said the experience has since shaped how he approaches conversations about national tennis with Henry Searle.
On Wednesday, Evans said the decision was driven more by the chance to play with Murray than by representing Great Britain, and it came at a cost in ranking points. By missing the D.C. Open in Washington, D.C., where he was the defending champion, Evans lost 500 points and dropped 118 places in the rankings.
Evans and Searle could begin their Wimbledon campaign as early as Wednesday, July 1, with the tournament set to start on Monday, June 29.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7390399/2026/06/24/dan-evans-tennis-retirement-wimbledon-britain/