Greg Rusedski has criticized Wimbledon‘s decision not to hand over the retired British tennis star Dan Evans an odd wildcard.
Former British number one Evans had hoped to play in the men’s singles event after announcing his retirement at the All England Club last month.
But SW19 bosses didn’t grant his request, instead handing him a men’s doubles Scissors – a decision Evans described as ‘disrespectful’.
Evans failed to qualify for Wimbledon and his doubles campaign was short-lived as he and fellow Brit Henry Searle were beaten in straight sets by Hugo Nys and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
sir Andy Murray described his former doubles partner as “a bit of a bad boy”, with Evans previously receiving a one-year ban after testing positive for cocaine.
It has been suggested that Evans’ fiery reputation may have been one of the reasons for his snub at Wimbledon, but Tim Henman, who is a board member at the All England Club, said there were simply players ahead of the retired player.
“We would have liked to have given Dan Evans a scissor but there were only eight in the main draw,” Henman said earlier in the week.
“The way it works is the LTA comes and presents to a wildcard committee. Then they leave the room and we have to decide.
“Of course there were six British players ahead of Dan for the main draw wildcards and then we also wanted to give Grigor Dimitrov, who made the quarter-finals here last year, and was two sets to love against Jannik Sinner and then tore his hamstring.
And then Stan Wawrinka is a three-time Grand Slam champion. Maybe if there had been 12 or 13 main draw wilds he would have gotten one, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.
He had a good performance in the first round of qualifying, but then lost in the second round.
“I’m happy to say he’s been given a double with Henry Searle so he’ll have the chance to play in the Championships in his final tournament.”
Evans was frustrated by the decision, however, saying after his Wimbledon doubles exit: “I know they don’t like people expressing their views and I’m more than happy to express mine.
‘So not getting a feature was surprising. I thought it was disrespectful, to be quite honest. But that’s life. It’s been a different way to finish, but it’s been great.’
Former world number four and BBC commentator Rusedski also criticized Wimbledon’s decision to reject Evans, saying it was an ‘own goal’.
Speaking in Out of Court Podcasthe said: ‘The question you have to ask yourself is how many British players in the last 20 years have been in the top 30 in the world? This is one of the questions.
And then you have to think that Dan Evans wanted to retire at Wimbledon. Tim Henman and I retired at Davis Cup, Andy Murray announced his retirement at Wimbledon and then had a retirement ceremony.
So he got what he wanted out of the situation. To Dan, I don’t see why the LTA wouldn’t try to go to the Club and say can we have a rule for all British tournaments.
“A lot of players want wild characters but only the British players seem to get them at Queen’s or Nottingham, that’s it. But then at Wimbledon it’s their choice with suggestions from the LTA.”
“As it would be his last tournament, wouldn’t it be nice to support Dan and make a big deal out of him, maybe organize a ceremony to mark his last game?
“Let’s not forget that he’s the guy who gave up ranking points to play in the Olympics with a certain Sir Andy Murray, and that was a big sacrifice for him at the time given his ranking.
“I think it was a bit of an own goal there. Yes, he hasn’t played full-time, but come on, how many British wild cards have we seen who don’t even have a chance to win a game – and they get wild cards.
“I would love to see Dan get a single character and they make a big deal out of him. That would be the right thing to do.
“It’s a funny way to go out because he’s playing doubles and there’s nothing real.
“We’ve been lucky to have Andy Murray, Emma Raducanu, Jack Draper and some great tennis players, but it would be nice to say thank you for your service, that’s your wild character and we wish you well.
“I understand where Dan is coming from even though he hasn’t played full-time.”
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