“I thought I played OK”.
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I certainly don’t plan on anything going wrong when I play John Millman on Saturday, but when I do lose a tennis match, the consequences are not quite so serious.
Even the most over-egged Hollywood script could not have had him losing to world number 772 Willis, whose transformation from a 30 pounds ($40.30) an hour tennis coach to Wimbledon sensation has captured the imagination of the sporting world. “Swap mathematics for tennis and you have a tennis Goodwill Hunting”.
On this form, Federer is likely to find his second successive British opponent a much more challenging prospect. It would be stupid to say it’s not a special occasion to play him.
“It’s wonderful”, Willis said.
Talking after the match, Marcus said: ” I was nervous. “Now I’m enjoying it”.
He lost his second round match to Federer on Wednesday afternoon but not before winning seven games.
In the past he would play maybe one match every three months at this level, and then go back down to Futures.
Evans’ 7-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over the No30 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov was an outstanding performance, the 26-year-old from Solihull hitting 13 aces, 39 winners and just 14 unforced errors, the kind of numbers of which the world No1 Novak Djokovic would be proud.
It took seven games for Willis to get his name on the board, but when he did the roof of the court almost came off thanks to the cheers of “shoes off if you love Willis!”
Daniel Evans followed Marcus Willis in securing a dream match against Roger Federer here, but he won’t be taking any fashion tips from his fellow Briton.
“When I was a bit younger, I don’t think I was ready to play professional tennis”.
“I’m surprised the All England let him wear it, because it was slightly off white”, Evans said with a grin. “It sort of all just happened pretty quick, before I knew, it was over”.
“He’s just ridiculous. The big points he played ridiculously well”.
“I still can’t believe he actually qualified and won a round”. “I was thinking, ‘This is definitely one of the matches I’ll remember, ‘ because I start forgetting some. So that’s exciting for me if I’m playing like this”.
One match that should provide plenty of entertainment is the first match on Court One between Nick Kyrgios and Dustin Brown.
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That all changed three years ago when he looked himself in the mirror and resolved to transform his life, although reaping the benefits has taken longer than he expected. “Everyone puts the work in for the year (and) we’re all trying as hard as each other”.
