No wild card in singles for last year’s sensation Marcus Willis

Marcus Willis is ready to rise to the challenge of battling through qualifying after missing out on a main-draw wild card for Wimbledon.

The All England Club announced the first batch of wild cards yesterday but there was no room for last year’s hero.

The 26-year-old caused a sensation with his run through pre-qualifying and qualifying before going out in the second round against Roger Federer.

Willis and British teenager Jay Clarke were given a wild card for the doubles.

Heather Watson, Laura Robson and Davis Cup stalwart James Ward will be in the main draw.

Naomi Broady and 20-yearold Katie Boulter are the other British women to get wild cards, along with Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas.

Ward, who played a key role in Britain’s Davis Cup triumph of 2015, has been dogged by knee problems, with his ranking slumping to 1,062.

Joining the 30-year-old are countrymen Brydan Klein and 21-year-old Cameron Norrie, who has just turned professional after finishing his US college career as the topranked player.

German Tommy Haas, who knocked out Federer in Stuttgart last week, has been granted one last appearance at Wimbledon at the age of 39.

Last year’s junior champion Denis Shapovalov is also in despite the headlines he made in February when he struck a ball in anger into an umpire’s face in a Davis Cup match between Canada and GB.

The All England Club could add more wild cards in the build-up to the tournament, which begins on July 3, with three spaces left in both the men’s and women’s main draws.

There was no singles wild card for Marcus Willis.