Willis boosts Brits with feel-good underdog story
Unheralded club pro, ranked 772nd in world, falls to Federer at Wimbledon
One of the movies on the flight over here was Eddie the Eagle.
It’s Hollywood’s very syrupy version of unlikely British skijumper Eddie Edwards, who won the hearts of sports fans around the world at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. It’s not a very good movie, but it still warms the heart and makes you feel good.
There’s a similar tennis movie from 2004 titled Wimbledon that tells the fictional story of a player who was about to retire before finding love, followed by some unlikely success at the world’s oldest and most prestigious tournament.
Marcus Willis is the real-life version of that movie and — like Eddie the Eagle — captured the hearts of sports fans around the world this week and especially in Britain. It was good timing. England is a country that really needed something to put a smile on people’s faces following Brexit and a loss to Iceland at the euro soccer tournament.
Enter Willis — stage left — a pudgy 25-year-old who has a reputation for enjoying the nightlife a little too much and is ranked No. 772 in the world.
The left-hander is a club pro who, before Wimbledon, was earning 35 pounds an hour giving tennis lessons while playing in the Coventry League.
He was planning to retire from competition and take a job as a tennis instructor in Philadelphia when he met a beautiful young woman named Jennifer Bate while on the town one night. It was love at first sight and she convinced Willis not to give up on his tennis dreams.
Willis cancelled his moving plans and barely managed to get into a pre-qualifying tournament for Wimbledon, where he won three matches to advance to the actual qualifying.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder won three more matches there to get into the main draw and made headlines with a stunning, straight-sets victory over Ricardas Berankis, who is ranked No. 53, in the first round.
That victory came out on Court 17 of the 19 grass surfaces here. But on a rainy Wednesday — when Canada’s Milos Raonic had his match against Italy’s Andreas Seppi postponed — Willis was under the roof on centre court to face living legend Roger Federer.
It made for some fantastic theatre.
Willis entered the court wearing one of Federer’s Nike shirts that he bought with his own money. He was also wearing one of Federer’s swoosh headbands and adidas shoes — a sure sign of an unsponsored club pro. But while his opponent’s initials were on his left sleeve, Willis wore his emotions on his face.
He was greeted by a huge cheer from the crowd and by four young men in the sixth row wearing white T-shirts and headbands who started belting out a song like English soccer fans. There was a much bigger cheer — and a fantastic smile from Willis — after he won his first point in the first game to make the score 30-15. But everybody knew how this match was going to end.
Federer won the first set 6-0 in only 24 minutes. Willis got a standing ovation when he finally won his first game in the second set to make it 1-1 — avoiding the dreaded triple bagel — but then needed a trainer to work on his aching left shoulder during a break. He ended up losing the second set 6-3. Willis did a little better the next set, but his tennis fantasy came to an end when Federer won 6-4.
Willis got another standing ovation while his girlfriend clapped and his parents hugged each other in the front row.
“I was nervous,” Willis admitted while charming everyone during his post-match news conference. “I mean, centre court, the atmosphere is amazing. I thought I played OK. I was in games. I just didn’t get on the board. He makes you play. He’s class. Put me under the cosh, came out firing.”
But Willis fired back to the best of his abilities, saying it was a bit surreal to be playing against the man whose initials were on his shoulder.
“I did look up twice as I bounced the ball and saw Roger Federer, and thought, ‘Oh, haven’t seen this before.’ ”
While sitting in the top row of centre court watching the drama below me unfold, it was nice to see all the happy faces in the crowd. They weren’t all British — but the majority were and they finally had someone to make them feel good.
“I get messages saying: ‘Thanks so much, I believe in myself now.’” Willis said.
“It’s nice. It’s nice to have that touch. I don’t know the effect on what it’s doing. People seem happy for me. People got behind me today. It’s amazing.”
It was like a movie — only better.