The 27-year-old Birmingham player called a press conference in a hotel close to Queens Club this afternoon, where he made the shock announcement, The Sun reports.
He said: “This is a very difficult day for me and I wanted to come here in person to tell you guys face to face.
“I was notified a few days ago that I failed a drugs test in April where I tested positive for cocaine.
“It’s really important you know this was taken out of competition and the context was completely unrelated to tennis.
“I made a mistake and I must face up to it. I do not condone for one second to anyone that this was acceptable behaviour.
“I’ve let a lot of people down — my family, my coach, my team, sponsors, British tennis and my fans.
“I can only deeply apologise from the bottom of my heart. This has been an extremely sad and humbling experience.”
It comes just days before the most famous tennis competition of all, Wimbledon, begins, and will come as a bitter blow to British tennis.
Evans was named in the main draw for SW19, but doubts surfaced as to whether he would make it due to a niggling calf injury.
Dan Evans with Roger Federer.Source:Getty Images
But now, with the expected media frenzy after the shock revelation, the British number three will certainly have other things on his mind.
A statement from the International Tennis Federations read: “On 24 April 2017, Mr Evans provided an anti-doping sample to the TADP in association with his participation in the Barcelona Open, an ATP World Tour event, held in Barcelona, Spain.
“That sample was analysed by a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory in Montreal, Canada, and was found to contain cocaine and its metabolite.
“Cocaine is a Non-Specified substance prohibited under category S6 of the 2017 WADA Prohibited List (stimulants), and therefore is also prohibited under the TADP.
“In accordance with Article 2.1 of the TADP, Mr Evans was charged on June 16 with an Anti-Doping Rule Violation.
“Mr Evans has accepted the finding of cocaine in his sample collected on 24 April.”
Evans, who is ranked number 50 in the world, was forced to pull out of next week’s Aegon International in Eastbourne through injury.
Dan Evans will likely miss Wimbledon.Source:AFP
The British number three had to retire during his quarter-final against Dustin Brown at Surbiton on June 10 after pulling up suddenly with a calf injury.
Evans was seen on crutches at last week’s tournament in Nottingham and was also forced out of the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club this week.
Time was fast running out for the world number 50 to recover in time for Wimbledon.
Evans rates grass as his favourite surface and reached the third round of Wimbledon last year.
Evans had previously declared his desire to “stop letting people down” and commit to tennis.
After slipping to an ATP Tour Ranking of No. 772 in the world, Evans slowly began changing his reputation as one of the sport’s party boys and has since peeled off a number of wins over top 10 ranked players.
Last year, Evans teamed up with Aussie Nick Kyrgios to play doubles at the US Open. The pair are good friends and have both declared they are interested in playing together again.
Evans is also a bitter rival of Aussie Bernard Tomic.
Five years ago, John Tomic reportedly said Evans wasn’t even good enough to practice with his son. Evans then beat Tomic at this year’s Australian Open and labelled members of Tomic’s courtside box “complete idiots” for crossing the line as they supported the Aussie on Rod Laver Arena.
[Source”pcworld”]
