Dan Evans has won his eleventh match since making his comeback, further stirring up an internal debate within British tennis about whether he should be receiving wildcards in the forthcoming grass court tournaments.
The argument has even reached the House of Commons, with Labour MP and keen tennis enthusiast Toby Perkins writing to Lawn Tennis Association Chief Executive Scott Lloyd seeking clarification about the governing body plans to support him.
Evans underlined his unusual quality again when he defeated Germany’s Max Moraing 7-6 6-3 to make the quarter finals of the Fuzion 100 Surbiton Trophy, the last British man surviving in the singles.
Dan Evans has won his eleventh match since making his comeback to tennis after a ban
The British Davis Cup player has swiftly returned to winning ways since coming back from a one-year ban for cocaine, but after just two completed tournaments his ranking still languishes at a level where wildcards are needed to avoid going through draining qualifying events.
However, the LTA and Wimbledon (the All England Club makes its own wildcard decisions for The Championships) are unsure about how generous they should be, due to the nature of his past offence, and fearful of what reaction there might be.
In pure tennis terms it is becoming overwhelmingly clear that he is a suitable candidate for the kind of wildcard entries that are routinely handed to British players at domestic events.
Perkins, MP for Chesterfield, has written to Lloyd pointing out, among other things, that the LTA offered Maria Sharapova a wildcard last summer for the women’s event it owns in Birmingham when she was on her way back from her Meldonium ban.
‘It would be helpful if the LTA could clarify what their position is with regard to the support they are giving Dan,’ says the letter.
Evans has swiftly returned to winning ways since coming back from a one-year ban for cocaine
‘He has been punished by the sport for his mistake, what attitude is his home association now taking towards supporting him? Are decisions made by the LTA with regard to him now, being made purely on tennis grounds? Is there some hidden or residual punishment still being applied by the LTA?’
He will also be writing to Wimbledon along similar lines, although they did not set a Sharapova precedent.
One issue that Evans has is that at present his only possible route into Wimbledon is to play a tournament among British hopefuls during the week of the Fever Tree Championships at Queen’s Club.
This offers the winner entrance into the Wimbledon qualifying event. Other wildcards into Wimbledon’s qualifying are not announced until the middle of Queen’s week, on June 20.
He will be clearly be helped if he can carry on winning. He is next due to play Austria’s former world top ten player Jurgen Melzer.
An LTA spokesperson said (re Evans): ‘We have been pleased with the progress Dan has been making and he continues to meet our ongoing monitoring standards. Final main draw wildcard decisions for Nottingham (next week) will be announced later this week as is consistent with our events at this time of year.’