Britain's Dan Evans plans to miss this year's Olympic Games in Tokyo to concentrate on other tournaments ©Getty Images

Britain's number one Dan Evans has stated he would rather miss Tokyo 2020 to focus on the hard court season, including the US Open, leaving Team GB facing the prospect of not having a representative in the men's singles in the Olympic Games, an event they won the gold medal in at London 2012 and Rio 2016.

With the qualifying for the US Open just 15 days after the last day of the Olympics and a series of hard court tournaments beginning in late July, Evans has opted to play the latter.

Despite this, he claimed he is still enthusiastic about playing for Great Britain.

"I think everyone should represent their country for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup and ATP Cup but the Olympics is sort of an individual event," he said, 

"I'm not sure I'll be going to Japan."

Britain's Dan Evans, left, revealed he miss may Tokyo 2020 after being beaten by Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka in the second round of the Australian Open ©Getty Images
Britain's Dan Evans, left, revealed he miss may Tokyo 2020 after being beaten by Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka in the second round of the Australian Open ©Getty Images

Evans, who has a career high ranking of 32 at the moment, which meant he was seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time in Australia, will be eligible for the Olympic tournament with the top 56 players in the world automatically qualifying, but crucially has no prize money or ranking points for players.

Evans was given a one-year ban in 2017 after testing positive for cocaine, returning in 2018.

The British number one was beaten last week in the second round of the Australian Open in straight sets by world number 71 Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan. 

"First and foremost I have to take care of myself and my life rather than maybe taking time out - there's some good tournaments on at that point," Evans added.

Britain has won the men's singles title in the last two Olympic Games at London 2012 and Rio 2016 thanks for Andy Murray, who is struggling to qualify for Tokyo 2020 because of injury problems ©Getty Images
Britain has won the men's singles title in the last two Olympic Games at London 2012 and Rio 2016 thanks for Andy Murray, who is struggling to qualify for Tokyo 2020 because of injury problems ©Getty Images

The Briton turned down the chance to play in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro for his country after suffering from recurring injuries. 

Great Britain have won the previous two men's singles titles at the Olympics, both coming from Andy Murray.

With Murray struggling to qualify for Tokyo 2020 due to several years of injuries and ranked 90th in the world, it could leave Britain without a representative in the men's singles.