Andy Murray expects Davis Cup teammate Dan Evans to be hit with a lengthy ban after testing positive for cocaine.

Murray said his former doubles partner has only himself to blame for the transgression and said he expects Evans to be hit with a "long, long" suspension.

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"Yeah, will be a difficult time for him," Murray told the media after his opening-round Wimbledon win. "But he put himself in that position. The rules are very clear. He broke those rules, and deserves his suspension. However long that's going to be, I don't know. But it's going to be, you know, a pretty long, long period, I'd imagine.”

The 50th-ranked Evans failed a drug test at the Barcelona Open where he reached the round of 16 before bowing to Dominic Thiem, 7-6 (5), 6-2.

Evans said his cocaine use was recreational rather than performance-enhancing.

"This is a very difficult day for me and I wanted to come here in person and tell you face-to-face I was notified a few days ago that I failed a drugs test in April, where I tested positive for cocaine," Evans told the media in a brief London press conference. "It is really important that you know this was taken out of competition and the context completely unrelated to tennis. I made a mistake and I must face up to it."

The International Tennis Federation announced Evans was formally charged with an anti-doping rule violation on June 16th had accepted his positive test. Evans will be provisionally suspended from June 26th pending determination of his case.

Murray said Evans may well wind up spending the potential best years of his career on the sidelines serving a suspension.

"In what was looking like going to be the best sort of few years of his career, he got himself into a position to play in all the big events," Murray said. "You know, he's going to have a few years away from the game now. You make your decisions. He's obviously made a really, really bad one there."

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