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Dan Evans’ dream of reaching the singles main draw at Wimbledon for the final time came to an abrupt end on Wednesday after losing to Tristan Schoolkate in the second round of qualifying.
Announcing earlier this month that he would retire after the Championships, the veteran British player suffered a 7-5, 6-0 loss to the Australian, which means he has played his last professional singles match of his career.
Missing one of the eight wildcards for the main draw, the 36-year-old needed to win three games at Roehampton in the qualifying tournament and got off to the perfect start with a first round win over Boliva’s Juan Carlos Prado Angelo.
After narrowly missing out on the first set before an over an hour delay to the start of the second after an issue with the electronic line calling system, Evans was swept aside on the restart as his singles career came to a disappointing end.
He will still feature in SW19 next week after receiving a wildcard for the men’s doubles with Henry Searle, who also suffered a loss in the second round of qualifying on Wednesday.
“[On] Monday I played my first round and it was a little difficult. There were some strange thoughts going through my head, but today I was good,” said Evans.
“I have been thinking about [retirement] for a long time, so I had plenty of time to get my head around it. I’m happy with my decision as I knew it was time. I’m really looking forward to what’s next.
“I thought I played pretty well today but Tristan was too good.”
There was plenty of success for other Brits as Heather Watson, Oliver Tarvet, Billy Harris and Max Basing are all one match away from reaching the main draw at Wimbledon.
The 34-year-old Watson produced a stunning comeback to defeat Tatiana Porzorova 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 in a contest lasting two hours and 42 minutes.
Having reached the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2022, she faced a break down in the second set and, after surviving that, overcame two break points at 4-3 down in the third to earn a hard-fought victory and a place in the final round of qualifying.
Tarvet also booked his place in the final round of qualifying after beating Alexis Galarneau 7-5, 6-2.
The 22-year-old progressed through the qualifiers to reach the second round last year at his home Grand Slam and will need to replicate that once again this year, coming up against Greece’s Stefanos Sakellardis for a spot in the main draw.
Harris has played in the main draw of Wimbledon on two occasions before and is aiming to make it three after knocking out Hungary’s Zsombor Piros 7-5, 6-2.
Basing is now one win away from reaching his first-ever Wimbledon main draw after defeating Tom Gentzsch 7-5, 6-2 to set up a match with Remy Bertola.
Alongside Evans, however, Esther Adeshina, Paul Jubb and Henry Searle also bowed out of the qualifying tournament.
