Dan Evans will play Wimbledon in doubles, not singles, after the All England Club gave him a doubles wild card on Tuesday and left him out of the singles list. The decision pushes his farewell toward the doubles court as he heads toward retirement after this year’s grass-court season.
Evans, who reached a career-high world No. 21 in 2023, has barely played for 10 months because of injury. He lost to Daniel Jade, then world No. 1447, in French Open qualifying last month and also failed to qualify for the Ilkley Challenger and the HSBC Championships.
Henry Searle in Wimbledon
His doubles partner will be Henry Searle, the 20-year-old who was world No. 354. Evans had coached Searle on an informal basis during his rehabilitation from injury, so the pairing carries a clear link between the end of one career and the early edge of another. Dan Evans Receives Wimbledon Doubles Wild Card as Retirement Nears
Queen’s and Evans
The singles omission fits the frustration Evans voiced after Queen’s decided against giving him a wild card. Over the weekend, he said, “It would have been a classy gesture to give me a wild card, but obviously that was lacking on this occasion,” leaving little doubt about how he viewed the snub.
The broader picture is narrower than the celebration around the doubles slot. Evans announced last week that he will retire after this year’s grass-court season, said in retirement that he would like to coach, and has already said the coaching he sees now is not where he thinks it should be. He has also said, “Yeah, I don’t think it’s that complicated to get to the top 100.”
All England Club decision
The All England Club’s choice gives Evans one Wimbledon route and closes another. For a player who was part of the British Davis Cup-winning team in 2015, and who said, “It all helped me, to be honest,” about the funding removed by the LTA when he was an 18-year-old, the farewell now points to doubles rather than a singles send-off.
That is the part left hanging: why a doubles wild card, but no singles place, for a player nearing the end of his career. For Evans, the answer will not change the court he gets; it only decides how his last Wimbledon appearance begins.
