Dan Evans Tennis Star Announces He Tested Positive For Cocaine

British tennis No 3 Dan Evans has
announced that he tested positive for
cocaine in April.




Evans, who is ranked 50th in the world,
claims he took the illegal substance out of
competition and for reasons "completely
unrelated to tennis".




The 27-year-old called an impromptu press
conference at the Novotel hotel in London
on Friday afternoon, where he took no
questions but made a statement.




"This is a very difficult day for me and I
wanted to come here in person to tell you
guys face to face," he said.




"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."





The International Tennis Federation was
preparing a statement and will now
decide Evans' punishment.




The Birmingham-born player climbed into
the world's top 50 earlier this year after an
excellent upturn in results, which included
reaching the last 16 of the Australian Open
in January.



In May 2015, he had dropped
as low as 772.