World number 300 Dan Evans has unexpectedly become a late addition to the British Davis Cup team. The appearance of Evans came following an injury scare yesterday in which Kyle Edmund turned his ankle.
Evans, who has been ranked as high as 123rd in the world, was scheduled to play in the Istanbul Challenger this week, but pulled out due to ‘personal reasons’. It is reported that the 25-year-old will join the team as a back-up player due to his withdrawal from the Challenger tournament.
Evans has experienced a roller-coaster past couple of seasons. In 2013 he stunned Kei Nishikori and Bernard Tomic to reach the third round of the US Open. Despite producing his best result at a Grand Slam, the upsurge in Evans performance on the tour failed to continue in 2014 as he dealt with a troublesome knee injury as well as other issues.
During the second part of 2015 Evans has been getting back into the form which took him close to the top 100. He has claimed four Futures titles (three British and one Egyptian) and reached the semi-final of the Vancouver Challenger in Canada last month as a qualifier. Since Vancouver he has a win-loss of 15-2.
It is unclear if Evans or James Ward would replace Kyle Edmund if he is unable to play. BBC Scotland has quoted British captain Leon Smith saying that Edmund is ‘fine’ but he didn’t elaborate any further. Despite being ranked over 150 places below Ward, the Brits may chose to pick Evans given his recent run of form. Since Britain’s last Davis Cup tie against France, Ward has a win-loss of 0-8.
The British team will give a pre-draw press conference Wednesday afternoon at The Emirates Arena at 15:30 where an update on Edmund is expected.
