WILLIS THE WILDCARD
Castle: Give Marcus Wimbledon slot
FORMER British No.1 Andrew Castle has urged Wimbledon to give Marcus Willis a wildcard.
Willis was the fairytale story of last year when, ranked 772 in the world, he survived six rounds of qualifying and then won his first-round match before facing Wimbledon legend Roger Federer on Centre Court. The Liverpool fan has since got married to girlfriend Jenny Bate (right) – and climbed up to world No.387. But the 26-year-old left-hander, who was invited to the Aegon Ilkley Trophy this week, is still not ranked high enough even to get into qualifying. The Wimbledon tennis subcommittee, chaired by Tim Henman, meet today to decide who to invite to The Championships, which start on July 3. And with Maria Sharapova now not attending, the British No.8 would be a big draw for the qualifying tournament in Roehampton next week.
Wilson ambassador Castle said: “He qualified and won a round last year. And since then he has gone up in the rankings. He has played well on clay, he has played well in America and around the world. He has put the effort in – he is very fit.
“I would like to see him get a wildcard because I would like to see him on grass – and I think fans would like to see him too. On a grass court, you don’t want to be facing his monster serve.”
Former Davis Cup star James Ward, who returns to Tour-level action against Julien Benneteau at Queen’s today, is also hoping for a Wimbledon wildcard.
Ward has been out since last September with a knee injury and has slipped down to world No.1070. The Londoner said: “I really hope they give me a chance to play there. And, if I’m lucky, maybe not draw Novak Djokovic again in the first round!”
Aljaz Bedene claims Andy Murray, who he meets at Queen’s today, is the Wimbledon favourite. The British No.4, who lost 6-3 6-4 to the Scot in the second round last year, said: “He’s always dangerous and his best surface is grass. I would say he is favourite.”
Kyle Edmund suffered a blow to his Wimbledon preparation when he was beaten at Queen’s by Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov 6-7 6-4 4-6.
Nick Kyrgios insisted he will be at Wimbledon despite pulling out of his first-round match against Donald Young after slipping and aggravating a hip injury. “I will be playing, for sure,” said the Aussie.