British tennis stalwart Dan Evans will have to go through qualifying to make the main draw of the men’s singles at Wimbledon after missing out on a wildcard.
The 36-year-old, who announced last week that he would end his tennis career after Wimbledon, had hoped to receive one of the eight singles wildcards to guarantee an emotional final appearance at his home Grand Slam.
However, the final remaining places were awarded to British pair Harry Wendelken and Felix Gill on Wednesday.
Evans expressed frustration at not being given a wildcard for the HSBC Championships at Queen’s Club, saying it would have been a “classy gesture” to get one.
“I feel I’ve done plenty of time of helping British tennis, off the court, and on the court, so I hope to get one,” he said.
World number 244 Evans, who was given a wildcard last year, is a former British number one and has reached the Wimbledon third round on three occasions.
He was part of the team that secured Britain’s first Davis Cup title in 79 years in 2015 and partnered Sir Andy Murray at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
Evans has been granted a wildcard to play in the men’s doubles alongside Henry Searle to ensure at least one more match at Wimbledon.
But on Monday he will head to Roehampton for the Wimbledon qualifying competition where he will need to win three matches to secure one of the 16 places in the singles draw.
Wendelken, 24, beat two top-100 ranked players to qualify for the main draw at Queen’s this week and pushed Botic van de Zandschulp close during a first-round defeat on Monday.
Gill, also 24, is ranked 222 in the world while Wendelken is two places lower at 224.
Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, the 2021 runner-up, and 2022 finalist Nick Kyrgios of Australia also missed out on wildcards.
One remaining wildcard for the women’s singles is yet to be announced.
Men’s singles wildcards: Grigor Dimitrov, Jacob Fearnley, Arthur Fery, Jack Pinnington Jones, Toby Samuel, Stan Wawrinka, Harry Wendelken, Felix Gill
Women’s singles wildcards: Maja Chwalinska, Harriet Dart, Alicia Dudeney, Hannah Klugman, Mika Stojsavljevic, Katie Swan, Mimi Xu, player TBC
