Willis forced to qualify again after wild-card snub
Last year’s hero is only given Roehampton spot Main-draw places for Watson and Robson
Maria Sharapova may not be playing Wimbledon qualifying next week after all because of a thigh injury but two of last year’s big headline makers – Marcus Willis and Gabriella Taylor – have both received wild cards into the event.
Willis surged through the Roehampton qualifiers 12 months ago. He then beat Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis in the first round of Wimbledon proper to set up a famous meeting with Roger Federer, and attract a legion of fair-weather fans into the bargain.
As for 19-year-old Taylor, she prompted a police investigation when she fell ill during last year’s Wimbledon junior tournament, suffering a rare bacterial infection that some believed to have been passed on to her deliberately. She spent four days in intensive care, but eventually made a full recovery. Last month, she won a $25,000 (£19,700) tournament in South Korea.
Willis, 26, might have hoped to receive a wild card into the Wimbledon main draw, given the amount of coverage he brought the tournament with last year’s fairy tale. And it is possible, should he continue his run at the Aegon Ilkley Trophy today by beating Sam Groth, that the door could remain open.
The All England Club announced five main-draw wild cards for each gender yesterday, including Laura Robson and Heather Watson on the women’s side, which leaves the option to hand out three more before play starts a week on Monday.
Asked yesterday if he was disappointed by the verdict, Willis replied: “Disappointed is the wrong word. A wild card is a wild card – no one owes you anything. But I have got my eyes on the main draw even though I am taking one step at a time. I proved last year what I can do. I have just got to get my head down and try and do it again.
“I am playing great already,” added Willis, who has halved his ranking from No 772 in the world at this time last year to No 387 now.
“I have beaten [Denis] Kudla and then [Matthew] Ebden yesterday. There is not much difference between qualifying and the unseeded players in the main draw. I could lose at any stage in qualifying and not play too badly. But I am higher ranked and fitter than last year.”
Should he progress into the field of 128 players who contest the main draw, Willis said that he would rather not face Federer again. “As late as possible for Roger and Andy and Novak [Djokovic] and Rafa [Nadal] please,” he joked.
Three other British males were granted main-draw wild cards yesterday. They were Brydan Klein, Cameron Norrie and James Ward, whose respective rankings stand at 161, 235 and 1,062.
The women’s list included Katie Boulter and Naomi Broady, although it is questionable whether Broady should be receiving assistance from British tennis when she refuses to play in the Fed Cup.
Djokovic will take a wild card into Eastbourne next week, so breaking a pattern of not playing a grass-court warm-up event before Wimbledon that stretches back to 2010. His management suggested that Andre Agassi would be performing coaching duties at Wimbledon but not in the build-up.
Djokovic’s former coach, Boris Becker, was declared bankrupt yesterday after failing to repay a twoyear debt to a firm of bankers.