The thought of retiring having never played Wimbledon doesn't sit comfortably with Marcus Willis.
That’s easier said than done though when you’re a player ranked outside the world’s top 700 with realistically scant chance of earning a spot in the main draw.
Having forged his way through pre-qualifying just to contest the Wimbledon qualifying draw, the 25-year-old – who spends much of his time paying the bills with coaching stints at Warwick Boat Club in the Midlands – achieved the unimaginable on Friday.
His 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 upset of Russian Daniil Medvedev, a player ranked more than 500 places above him, was his sixth match win on the trot.
This from the British No.23, the last of his countrymen on the list for pre-qualifying, a player who openly jokes about his struggles with fitness, motivation and making ends meet.
Marcus Willis!! I CANNOT wait to see you play at Wimbledon! They are not ready for you! Massive Congrats! Last man in pre quals! @Willbomb90
— Jamie Murray (@jamie_murray) June 24, 2016
“Yeah I did [think about giving it up]. I was adamant I was going to go to America and coach and called up someone about the visa but I met a girl [Jennifer] who basically told me I was an idiot and that I should keep going and I’m very grateful for her,” Willis said.
“I’ve always believed in myself, believed I could play really good tennis but I can’t really expect to qualify for Wimbledon. I didn’t really think, if I’m honest, I just took it one match at a time and now in the main draw I’ll do the same there.”
Flanked by crowds crammed three deep on the narrow sidelines of Roehampton’s Court No.9, the nerves naturally crept in when serving for the match with a double break in hand.
A backhand slice into the net gave the Russian two break points. He cracked a forehand return winner to break for 3-5 before Willis earned his second shot at closing the match out.
He arrived at three match points when Medvedev returned long. Fortunately he would only need one chance. The Russian’s backhand pass caught the net to send Willis through to his maiden Grand Slam main draw and by far the biggest pay cheque of his career.
“I’ve never served to qualify for Wimbledon before so I can understand that [failing to serve it out first time],” Willis said.
“It’s certainly the biggest pay-day I’ve ever had. I can pay off a couple of credit cards I used to fund my tennis the last couple of years.”
Willis admits with the encouragement of his girlfriend Jennifer, he was able to shake lingering retirement thoughts.
“I was a fat boy and I’ve worked hard, got in the gym and got myself in good shape,” he laughed.
“I just sorted my head out. I was in a bad place. I got injured twice and really was at a low point so this was really, really sweet.”
Earlier, Belgian Ruben Bemelmans reached his third Wimbledon main draw, holding off German No.21 seed Daniel Brands 6-1, 6-4, 6-7(2), 4-6, 6-3.
The 28-year-old served for a straight-sets victory at 6-5 in the third before letting the set slip in a tie-break.
“I knew what to expect from him. We’d played a lot against each other so know each other pretty well,” Bemelmans said. “But from the first ball I was returning really well. Everything went well, even at 6-5, serving for the match in the third set, I just made some technical choices that were wrong but after that it worked out well.”
The top two men’s seeds Karen Khachanov and Adam Pavlasek did not fair so well.
Russian 20-year-old Khachanov fell to Australian Matthew Barton 7-6(1), 6-7(1), 6-2, 6-3. Barton had never before reached the final round of Grand Slam qualifying let alone the main draw.
His fellow Australian and former Boys’ Singles champion at Wimbledon, Luke Saville, won the day’s final singles match, rallying to deny German Matthias Bachinger 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-4. It will mark Saville’s third straight main draw appearance at The All England Club.
Czech No.2 seed Pavlasek was soundly beaten 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 by Russia’s Alexander Kudryavtsev, while Romania’s Marius Copil ended Italian Thomas Fabbiano’s hopes 7-5, 7-5, 6-4.
Japanese No.12 seed Yoshihito Nishioka finished strongly against French No.29 seed Quentin Halys 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 but his countryman Hiroki Moriya was not so fortunate, bowing 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 to American Dennis Novikov.
Moldovan No.15 seed Radu Albot will make his Wimbledon debut after downing Slovak No.19 seed Jozef Kovalik 4-6, 7-6(0), 6-1, 6-3 with Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin also through to the main draw after a 2-6, 7-5, 7-6(5), 6-4 victory over Austrian Dennis Novak.