DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Dan Evans finished a practice session last month, grabbed a racket by the strings and marched from the court toward the player locker room.

It was the same path walked by Juan Martín del Potro the night before. For del Potro, a flash mob gathered as fans chanted “Olé, Olé, Olé, Delpo, Delpo,” and implored the popular Argentine to autograph photos, tennis balls, hats, T-shirts and even one man’s bald head.

When Evans walked the route, just hours before he was to take the court against Radu Albot in the final of the Delray Beach Open on Feb. 24, no one stopped him to chat or ask for his autograph. Not a single spectator recognized Evans, a 28-year-old Briton.

He was alone with his thoughts. But he was used to that.

For more than a year, Evans spent most of his time alone after being barred from the ATP Tour for a positive drug test for cocaine. Evans said that while he used cocaine recreationally and out of competition, which is not prohibited in tennis, he tested positive during the Barcelona Open in April 2017 when he left some of the drug in a bag that contaminated other medication.