Marcus Willis

Marcus Willis

Willis at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships
Country (sports)	Great Britain
Born	(1990-10-09) 9 October 1990 (age 30) Slough, England, UK
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Turned pro	2007
Retired	2021
Plays	Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach	Matt Smith (2013–2021)
Prize money	$220,214
Singles
Career record	1–1
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 322 (16 June 2014)
Grand Slam Singles results
Wimbledon	2R (2016)
Doubles
Career record	2–1
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 209 (13 November 2017)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Wimbledon	3R (2017)
Last updated on: 5 March 2021.

Marcus Willis (born 9 October 1990) is a former professional British tennis and touchtennis player. Willis made his tour debut at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships having qualified for the main draw.^[1]

Personal life and junior career[]

Willis began playing tennis at the age of 9. His mother is a learning support assistant and his father is an accountant.^[2] Willis attended St Paul's Primary School, Wokingham and The Forest School, Winnersh.^[3] Willis is married to Jennifer Bate, an NHS dental surgeon and former beauty model whom he had met at a concert.^[4][5]

Willis played his first junior match in April 2006 at the age of 15 at a grade 5 tournament in the UK. Throughout his junior career, he reached a high of No. 15 in the combined junior world rankings in September 2008 at posted a win-loss record of 92–36.^[6]

Willis was sent home from the 2008 Australian Open by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) for his "slack attitude" when he missed the bus to a practice session and eventually arrived without rackets, having left them at his hotel.

Junior Slam results – Singles:

Australian Open: A (—)
French Open: 2R (2008)
Wimbledon: 3R (2007, 2008)
US Open: 2R (2008)

Junior Slam results – Doubles:

Australian Open: A (—)
French Open: 1R (2008)
Wimbledon: 2R (2007)
US Open: 2R (2008)

Professional career[]

2007–2015[]

Willis officially turned pro in 2007 at the age of 17. Throughout 2007-2015, he made 14 ITF singles finals and 41 ITF doubles finals (winning 8 singles and 25 doubles). He only made one challenger final, the 2014 Charlottesville Challenger where he made the doubles final partnering Lewis Burton where they lost to top seed Treat Huey and Frederik Nielsen in three sets. He got a wildcard spot into the 2009 Wimbledon Qualifying where he lost in the second round and the 2014 Wimbledon Qualifying where he lost in the first round. He achieved a career-high ranking of 322 on June 16, 2014.

2016: Wimbledon second round[]

The only success for Willis in the first five months of 2016 was qualifying for the Tunisia Futures F1 in January, and progressing to the quarterfinals,^[7] where he won $356.^[5] His failure to defend the previous year's points led to his ranking falling to number 772 by the start of Wimbledon.^[8]

Willis was considering his retirement in 2016 as he had just torn his hamstring and was offered a tennis teaching job in Philadelphia. His girlfriend, Jennifer Bate, convinced him to keep playing professional tennis and to give it one more try. He trained heavily throughout February to May to play his next event at Wimbledon qualifying.

Willis was awarded a spot into the qualifying draw after countryman David Rice withdrew. He won six matches to qualify for the main draw of the 2016 Wimbledon Championships.^[1] In the first round, Willis upset Ričardas Berankis, a player ranked more than 700 places above him, to set up a clash with seven-time champion Roger Federer.^[9] Willis was defeated by Federer 6–0, 6–3, 6–4 on Centre Court in the second round, receiving a standing ovation nevertheless.^[10]

The BBC held a vote for the best shot of the Wimbledon tournament,^[11] and the winner was Willis lobbing Roger Federer.^[12]

Injury prevented Willis from playing immediately after Wimbledon 2016, but he was given a wild card into qualifying for the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna over the weekend of October 22–23. He has also been invited to play Tie Break Tens at the same venue on Sunday 23 October, against Andy Murray, Dominic Thiem and Jo Wilfried Tsonga.^[13]

His second tournament after Wimbledon was a Future in Kuwait which he won both the singles and the doubles.

2017: Wimbledon doubles third round[]

Willis didn't play too many tournaments in the first half of 2017 due to injuries and becoming a father to his first child (a girl) but played in the Great Britain F1, F2 and F3, reaching the second round, semi-finals and finals respectively, winning $2283 overall. He then reached the quarter-finals of the U.S.A. F15 but lost in the first round of the Spain F14.^[14] He then failed to qualify for the Challenger in Surbiton and then reached the second round of the Ilkley Challenger, losing to Sam Groth.^[14]

At the 2017 Wimbledon Championships, Willis lost in the final round of qualifying to Illya Marchenko in straight sets, although Willis had been hindered by a knee injury he suffered against fellow Brit Liam Broady in the previous round. Since he failed to defend his points from last years Wimbledon his ranking is projected to drop below 500 in the world.^[15]

In the Wimbledon doubles, he and partner Jay Clarke had been awarded a wild card for the main draw. In the opening round, they beat Jared Donaldson and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan after coming back from two sets to love.^[16] They caused a big surprise by defeating the defending champions and second seeds Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the next round, also in a five-setter.^[17] Their run ended with a loss to Oliver Marach and Mate Pavić in the third round.^[18]

2018[]

Willis missed Wimbledon in singles after losing to Dan Evans in the pre-qualifying playoffs.^[19]

After Wimbledon, he played for the San Diego Aviators in the World TeamTennis league,^[20] where the team narrowly missed the WTT finals.

2021: Retirement[]

Willis retired in March, having continued to play Futures events in doubles through November 2020.^[21] However, his final match at professional level is considered to have taken place at the 2018 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Doubles Qualifying event.^[22]

His most recent participation in touchtennis dates back to September 2020. ^[23]

In 2021 Willis went to Lostock Tennis Club for an Open Event to much admiration from the local “Rusty Rackets”, especially Fi Clarke, who scored a whopping 4 points from 6 against the former professional.

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals[]

Singles: 16 (9–7)[]

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Oct 2008	Great Britain F16, Glasgow	Futures	Hard (i)	Dan Evans	2–6, 1–3 ret.
Win	1–1	Jan 2013	Great Britain F1, Glasgow	Futures	Hard (i)	Josh Goodall	6–4, 6–4
Loss	1–2	Mar 2013	Great Britain F6, Shrewsbury	Futures	Hard (i)	Dan Evans	6–7(3–7), 6–7(1–7)
Win	2–2	Jul 2013	Great Britain F14, Felixstowe	Futures	Grass	Neil Pauffley	6–2, 6–4
Loss	2–3	Aug 2013	Great Britain F17, Wrexham	Futures	Hard	Daniel Cox	2–6, 3–6
Loss	2–4	Sep 2013	Kuwait F2, Mishref	Futures	Hard	Ivo Klec	6–3, 1–6, 4–6
Win	3–4	Oct 2013	Kuwait F3, Mishref	Futures	Hard	Tak Khunn Wang	6–3, 6–2
Loss	3–5	Mar 2014	Thailand F3, Nonthaburi	Futures	Hard	Chung Hyeon	2–6, 4–6
Win	4–5	Mar 2014	Great Britain F8, Tipton	Futures	Hard (i)	Sam Barry	7–6(7–4), 6–4
Win	5–5	May 2014	Great Britain F10, Edinburgh	Futures	Clay	Neil Pauffley	6–1, 6–3
Loss	5–6	Sep 2014	Great Britain F15, London	Futures	Hard	Frederik Nielsen	6–2, 4–6, 4–6
Win	6–6	Sep 2014	Spain F27, Madrid	Futures	Hard	Mick Lescure	6–3, 6–2
Win	7–6	May 2015	Spain F11, Móstoles	Futures	Hard	Jorge Hernando-Ruano	6–7(14–16), 6–3, 7–6(10–8)
Win	8–6	May 2015	Egypt F20, Sharm El Sheikh	Futures	Hard	Julien Dubail	7–5, 6–7(8–10), 7–5
Win	9–6	Nov 2016	Kuwait F3, Mishref	Futures	Hard	Daniel Altmaier	6–3, 7–6(10–8)
Loss	9–7	Feb 2017	Great Britain F3, Shrewsbury	Futures	Hard (i)	Oscar Otte	5–7, 6–7(4–7)

Doubles: 47 (28–19)[]

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Feb 2009	France F2, Feucherolles	Futures	Hard (i)	Dan Evans	Olivier Charroin Nicolas Tourte	3–6, 4–6
Win	1–1	May 2009	Great Britain F6, Edinburgh	Futures	Clay	Daniel Smethurst	Richard Gabb Ashley Hewitt	6–7(3–7), 6–3, [14–12]
Loss	1–2	Jul 2009	Great Britain F9, Frinton	Futures	Grass	Neil Pauffley	Tristan Farron-Mahon Colin O'Brien	7–6(7–5), 6–7(3–7), [6–10]
Loss	1–3	Aug 2009	Belgium F2, Koksijde	Futures	Clay	Alexander Ward	Rabie Chaki Frederic De Fays	3–6, 2–6
Win	2–3	Sep 2009	Italy F28, Porto Torres	Futures	Hard	Vasek Pospisil	Alessandro Giannessi Francesco Piccari	4–6, 6–3, [10–8]
Loss	2–4	Sep 2009	Italy F29, Alghero	Futures	Hard	Vasek Pospisil	Federico Gaio Alessandro Giannessi	2–6, 5–7
Loss	2–5	May 2010	Great Britain F6, Edinburgh	Futures	Clay	Barry King	James Cluskey Colin O'Brien	3–6, 3–6
Loss	2–6	May 2010	Great Britain F7, Newcastle	Futures	Clay	Maniel Bains	Ignacio Coll Riudavets Gerard Granollers	1–6, 4–6
Loss	2–7	Sep 2010	Great Britain F14, Nottingham	Futures	Hard	Sean Thornley	Lewis Burton Dan Evans	5–7, 6–1, [11–13]
Win	3–7	Oct 2010	Greece F3, Heraklion	Futures	Carpet	Daniel Glancy	Sam Barry Colin O'Brien	7–5, 5–7, [10–8]
Loss	3–8	Mar 2011	Great Britain F3, Tipton	Futures	Hard (i)	Miles Bugby	Chris Eaton Josh Goodall	2–6, 2–6
Win	4–8	Sep 2011	Great Britain F14, Roehampton	Futures	Hard	Josh Goodall	Lewis Burton James Marsalek	6–3, 5–7, [10–5]
Win	5–8	Sep 2011	Great Britain F15, Nottingham	Futures	Hard	Josh Goodall	David Rice Sean Thornley	6–4, 7–6(8–6)
Win	6–8	Jul 2012	Great Britain F9, Manchester	Futures	Grass	Josh Goodall	Tom Burn Dan Evans	6–2, 7–6(7–3)
Win	7–8	May 2013	Great Britain F10, Edinburgh	Futures	Clay	Matthew Short	Richard Gabb Jonny O'Mara	4–6, 6–4, [10–8]
Win	8–8	Aug 2013	Great Britain F17, Wrexham	Futures	Hard	George Coupland	Liam Broady Joshua Ward-Hibbert	7–6(8–6), 6–3
Win	9–8	Sep 2013	Great Britain F18, Sheffield	Futures	Hard	Lewis Burton	Richard Bloomfield Daniel Cox	6–1, 6–1
Win	10–8	Sep 2013	Great Britain F19, Roehampton	Futures	Hard	Lewis Burton	Edward Corrie Joshua Ward-Hibbert	4–6, 6–4, [10–8]
Win	11–8	Sep 2013	Kuwait F1, Mishref	Futures	Hard	Lewis Burton	Patrick Davidson Saketh Myneni	6–4, 7–5
Loss	11–9	Sep 2013	Kuwait F2, Mishref	Futures	Hard	Lewis Burton	Ruan Roelofse Tak Khunn Wang	6–4, 3–6, [6–10]
Win	12–9	Oct 2013	Kuwait F3, Mishref	Futures	Hard	Lewis Burton	Thomas Statzberger Tristan-Samuel Weissborn	6–2, 6–2
Win	13–9	Oct 2013	Great Britain F22, Tipton	Futures	Hard (i)	Lewis Burton	Graeme Dyce Calum Gee	7–6(7–0), 6–2
Win	14–9	Nov 2013	Greece F20, Rethymno	Futures	Hard	Lewis Burton	Nikola Čačić Alexandros Jakupovic	6–4, 7–6(7–5)
Win	15–9	Jan 2014	Israel F1, Eilat	Futures	Hard	Lewis Burton	Shonigmatjon Shofayziyev Anton Zaitcev	6–3, 6–4
Loss	15–10	Jan 2014	Israel F2, Eilat	Futures	Hard	Lewis Burton	Huang Liang-chi Amir Weintraub	3–6, 6–7(9–11)
Win	16–10	Jan 2014	Israel F3, Eilat	Futures	Hard	Lewis Burton	Claudio Grassi Amir Weintraub	6–3, 7–5
Loss	16–11	Feb 2014	Thailand F1, Nonthaburi	Futures	Hard	Lewis Burton	Yuichi Ito Hiroki Kondo	6–3, 3–6, [8–10]
Loss	16–12	Feb 2014	Thailand F2, Nonthaburi	Futures	Hard	Lewis Burton	Chung Hyeon Nam Ji-sung	4–6, 7–6(7–4), [7–10]
Win	17–12	Mar 2014	Thailand F3, Nonthaburi	Futures	Hard	Lewis Burton	Chung Hyeon Nam Ji-sung	6–3, 7–5
Win	18–12	Mar 2014	Great Britain F8, Tipton	Futures	Hard (i)	Lewis Burton	David Rice Sean Thornley	4–6, 7–6(7–5), [10–6]
Win	19–12	Apr 2014	Great Britain F9, Bournemouth	Futures	Clay	Lewis Burton	Jake Eames Brydan Klein	6–1, 7–5
Win	20–12	May 2014	Great Britain F10, Edinburgh	Futures	Clay	Jonny O'Mara	Maverick Banes Gavin van Peperzeel	7–6(7–3), 6–1
Win	21–12	May 2014	Great Britain F11, Newcastle	Futures	Clay	Jonny O'Mara	Maverick Banes Gavin van Peperzeel	7–6(10–8), 6–1
Loss	21–13	Aug 2014	Spain F24, Pozoblanco	Futures	Hard	Lewis Burton	Edward Corrie David Rice	4–6, 5–7
Loss	0–1	Nov 2014	Charlottesville, United States	Challenger	Hard (i)	Lewis Burton	Treat Huey Frederik Nielsen	6–3, 3–6, [2–10]
Win	22–13	Jan 2015	Great Britain F2, Sunderland	Futures	Hard (i)	Lewis Burton	Isak Arvidsson Micke Kontinen	6–3, 6–2
Loss	22–14	Mar 2015	Great Britain F5, Shrewsbury	Futures	Hard (i)	Sean Thornley	Luke Bambridge Scott Clayton	6–7(3–7), 4–6
Loss	22–15	May 2015	Spain F11, Móstoles	Futures	Hard	José Checa-Calvo	Juan-Samuel Arauzo Ivan Arenas-Gualda	3–6, 7–5, [5–10]
Win	23–15	May 2015	Egypt F19, Sharm El Sheikh	Futures	Hard	Daniel Smethurst	Karim-Mohamed Maamoun Issam Haitham Taweel	6–4, 6–4
Win	24–15	May 2015	Egypt F20, Sharm El Sheikh	Futures	Hard	Daniel Smethurst	Karim Hossam Issam Haitham Taweel	6–1, 6–3
Win	25–15	Jul 2015	Great Britain F6, Frinton	Futures	Grass	Daniel Smethurst	Evan Hoyt Bradley Mousley	6–4, 6–4
Loss	25–16	Sep 2015	Sweden F4, Falun	Futures	Hard (i)	James Marsalek	David O'Hare Joe Salisbury	3–6, 5–7
Win	26–16	Nov 2016	Kuwait F3, Mishref	Futures	Hard	Daniel Altmaier	Roy Sarut De Valk Ronan Joncour	6–1, 6–1
Loss	26–17	Feb 2017	Great Britain F3, Shrewsbury	Futures	Hard (i)	Jack Molloy	Scott Clayton Luke Johnson	6–3, 4–6, [6–10]
Win	27–17	Aug 2017	Portugal F17, Sintra	Futures	Hard	Edward Corrie	Yanais Laurent Maxime Tchoutakian	6–1, 6–4
Loss	27–18	Feb 2018	Great Britain F1, Glasgow	Futures	Hard (i)	Neil Pauffley	Matthias Haim Jakob Sude	3–6, 7–6(7–5), [6–10]
Win	28–18	Feb 2018	Great Britain F3, Shrewsbury	Futures	Hard (i)	Scott Clayton	Harri Heliövaara Frederik Nielsen	6–2, 7–5

Performance timelines[]

Singles[]

Doubles[]

Wins over top 10 players[]

Doubles[]

#	Partner	Opponents	Rank	Tournament	Surface	Rd	Score	Willis Rank
2017
1.	Jay Clarke	Nicolas Mahut Pierre-Hugues Herbert	4 7	Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom	Grass	2R	3–6, 6–1, 7–6(7–3), 5–7, 6–3	708

References[]

External links[]

• Marcus Willis at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Marcus Willis at the International Tennis Federation