Dan Evans will get a second bite at his controversial tennis career after convincing the authorities that his positive cocaine test in April was not related to enhancing his performance.
The British Davis Cup player, 27, will be able to compete from late next April after being handed a backdated twelve-month ban, and admitting that he took the substance four days prior to giving a urine sample at the Barcelona Open, on April 24.
Sportsmail understands that he consumed the drug having attended the funeral of a close friend’s mother, who had died of cancer in early April. This occurred during a wake which ensued after what is said to have been an emotional occasion.
Dan Evans has been handed a one-year ban from tennis after testing positive for cocaine
The ban has been backdated a year, meaning he is unable to play again until April 24, 2018
On Monday April 17 Evans had lost to compatriot Kyle Edmund in the first round of the Monte Carlo Open. He promptly flew home and yesterday’s ruling revealed that three days later he ‘ingested a small amount of cocaine’.
The published report then continues that he ‘put the leftover cocaine first in his pocket and then in a pocket of his washbag, before discarding it the next day. In the same pocket of the washbag he stored tablets of (permitted) medication.’
A doctor representing Evans and an expert from the governing body International Tennis Federation, Professor Martial Saugy, agreed that this would have been enough to contaminate his other tablets to the extent that 1-3 mg of cocaine –described as a ‘tiny amount’ – showed up in his sample.
‘On this basis the ITF accepts that Mr. Evans has met his burden of proving on the balance of probabilities how the cocaine got into his system, i.e by inadvertent contamination of his fingers and/or the medication he was handling with cocaine residue.’
Evans used cocaine on April 20 before leaving the leftover drugs in the pocket of his washbag
There is an acceptance that cocaine, described as a ‘non-specified substance’ on the prohibited list, was not taken to help him win matches.
‘It follows that Mr. Evans can, in any event, establish ‘No Significant Fault or Negligence’ because the cocaine was used in a context unrelated to sports performance,’ says the report.
Two other things appear to have counted in Evans’s favour. The first was his prompt admission of guilt, and the second his acquiescence to an ‘agreed outcome’ with no recourse to appeal, rather than going to a ‘disputed hearing.’
In several recent high profile episodes of recent years, such as those involving Marin Cilic and Maria Sharapova, the initial judgements of ITF tribunals have been reduced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and there will have been a reluctance to be dragged through that process again.
The case of the contaminated washbag could be viewed as a tennis player being dealt with leniently again. In August former top tenner Sara Errani received only two months – six times shorter than Evans – when she tested positive for masking agent Letrozole.
Despite his reckless actions the so-called Enfant Terrible of the British game, who will be just short of 28 when he returns, should be able to revive a career that has rarely been far from controversy, but was finally blooming when this latest idiocy stopped him in his tracks.
He looked to have reconciled himself to the work ethic demanded by elite tennis, to the extent where he reached the fourth round of January’s Australian Open.
Evans pictured during his match against German Dustin Brown at Indian Wells in March 2017
Evans will forfeit more than £90,000 in prize money after the decision was made
If one extrapolates what he may have won at his then rate of progress, a year’s ban is likely to end up costing him perhaps around £400,000 in prize money and endorsements, although we will never know. Clothing manufacturer Ellesse dumped him after the test was revealed.
Yesterday’s ruling formally confiscated the 103,890 Euros of prize money (£90,000). That is the sum he earned between Barcelona and the grass court Surbiton Challenger, the last event before his public admission.
Some of those close to him feared that, given his fondness for a night out, he would not have the discipline to withstand a two-year ban, but that he would be able to cope with twelve months. He is said to have been keeping himself in reasonable shape and doing some hitting.
He will return with no ranking, and begin at the bottom as he is unlikely to receive the kind of wildcard largesse granted to Sharapova.
Evans said: ‘ I want to thank everyone who has supported me throughout this difficult period. I am determined to return to the sport I love and compete at the level I know I can in the not too distant future.’