LONDON (AP) Everyman’s everyman was back at Wimbledon on Wednesday, only instead of facing Roger Federer on Centre Court in singles, Marcus Willis was playing doubles.
And instead of losing, he was winning.
The straight-out-of-a-movie-script British tennis club instructor was ranked 772nd in the world a year ago when he managed to earn a meeting against Federer in the second round at the All England Club. This time around, he lost in the last round of qualifying for singles.
In doubles, though, he and Jay Clarke were given a wild-card entry for the tournament. And on Wednesday, they thrilled the spectators at Court 9 by coming all the way back after dropping the opening two sets to beat Jared Donaldson of the United States and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan of India 6-7 (4), 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-0, 6-3.