Marcus Willis is determined to make the most of a “dream come true” when he takes on Roger Federer in the second round at Wimbledon. “Like I say, I thought it would have happened two years ago, but it’s great to have made it now”.
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Lithuanian Berankis is an established tour player ranked 54th but he simply had no answer to Willis’ talent and exuberance, backed up by a raucous cheer squad.
After winning three matches in qualifying, the world No 775 – the lowest-ranked man to play in the men’s singles at Wimbledon for 16 years – faces Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis in the first round today.
“I was adamant I was going to go to America to coach”, Willis told the New York Times.
“I’m going to go out there and try and win a tennis match, I probably won’t, but I’m still going to give everything like I have done in the last seven matches”.
His remarkable qualifying story, which began only because fellow Brit David Price fell out of the ranking places, is something Smith is immensely proud of.
Now he is due to appear on Court 17 at the All England Club in one of the first matches of the ever-popular tournament.
On paper, Murray’s draw against the world number 235 looks more straightforward, although Broady has been seen hitting with high-profile names such as Raonic and the Canadian’s coach John McEnroe this week. “Hopefully he will carry on playing after this now and gets his act together again”.
“I think we’ll be all right”. From the hill above the Court One big screen there is a fine view of the City, but for one day at least tennis fans expressed relief to have a break from the troubling national drama.
“I was injured a little bit, which didn’t help, and there were a few ill disciplines along the way, and then I just got fed up of doing that and needed to be back on court, doing the boring stuff”, Evans said.
“Time heals a lot of problems, a lot of issues”, Federer said.
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Not that Evans, who plays German Jan-Lennard Struff on Monday, really regrets the days when he prioritised hanging out with his mates over tennis.
