British Qualifier Marcus Willis Living The Wimbledon Dream

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British Qualifier Marcus Willis Living The Wimbledon Dream

If you told the last few weeks of Marcus Willis to a friend, they might not believe you. But now the feel-good story of Wimbledon has all the makings of a Hollywood movie.

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Yes it’s all really happening for the current World No. 772. The British qualifier, who nearly quit professional tennis five months ago, now finds himself facing Roger Federer in the second round.

“I've always wanted to play at Wimbledon. I just never thought it would happen. Sort of two, three, four years ago, it was looking very unlikely,” Willis said after winning his first round match 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 over Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis. “Now I'm here. I'm going to enjoy every minute and try and do it on a regular basis.”

The 25-year-old Willis was once a promising junior player. But lack of success on the pro circuit and some bad life choices got in the way of Willis making a huge mark on the pro tour.

“When I was a junior, yeah, I was talented. I was bigged up a lot. Then I got dropped in the real world. Played a few years in Romania, losing. I lost a lot of confidence. Made some bad decisions. Went out too much. Lifestyle wasn't good. Yeah, didn't have the drive,” Willis recounted of those early days.

Willis ended up becoming a local teaching pro at the Warwick Boat Club in Britain.

But, life changed for Willis after meeting and falling in love with his new girlfriend. When a job opportunity opened up in Philadelphia a few months ago, Willis thought about starting a new life. His girlfriend, Jennifer Bate, convinced him to give pro tennis one more chance.

Willis took her advice.

After hard work and training, Willis made it into the pre-qualifying event at Wimbledon. From there, he had to win three matches just to get into qualifying. He did that and then won three more matches to make it into the main draw. That alone would have been a significant achievement for Willis.

Yet, Willis kept the dream going by playing confident tennis on Court 17 against the current World No. 54 Berankis on Monday. Willis, who saved 19 out of 20 break points against him with strong serving and a potent attacking game, confounded his opponent while delighting local fans who were packed in three deep along the sidelines to watch.

With the win, Wilils has earned a minimum of £50,000, which is the most prize money he’s earned all year.

Willis’ girlfriend, a dental surgeon, didn’t think she could make it to the match. But all of her appointments Monday were cancelled and she was able to make it, along with Willis’ parents to see his win.

@Willbomb90 Years of thinking I'll never find my man...I did, stopped him from going to America, fell madly in love, now WIMBLEDON!! 🎾🎾🎾💪💪
— Jennifer Bate (@Jennyloubate) June 24, 2016

Willis’ win also prompted this note of congratulations from a former Wimbledon champion who played with Willis in the juniors and gave him the nickname “Willbomb”.

Marcus Willis😄😄😄😄😄😄 how good is that!
— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) June 27, 2016

Now Willis, who admitted he’s checked out of the hotel he’s been staying at every day since he didn’t believe he would get this far, now finds himself facing seven-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer later this week. Willis admitted he had never expected to answer questions about playing Federer.

“I didn't think I'd be answering these questions in a million years,” Willis said, “He's a complete player. He's a legend of the game. I've got a lot of respect for him. But I've got to go out and try to beat him. That has to go out the window.”

Federer, when asked about Willis, said it's a story he's kept up with during the event.

"Yes, I have followed it actually before I even saw him in my section of the draw. I heard more about it. I think it's one of the best stories in a long time in our sport, other than Djokovic winning slams, you know, Rafa doing a good comeback, and Murray playing great. This is the kind of stories we need in our sport. I think it's a great, great story," Federer said. "I'm very excited to be playing him actually. It's not something that I get to do very often. I'm looking forward to that."

Willis plans to enjoy every moment of his dream run. But he also hopes to build on his success after Wimbledon ends.

“I want to be a top 100 tennis player. I want this week in and week out. It's going to take a lot of hard work and I've got a lot of improving to do as well."

Willis already enjoyed one big benefit of his surprise run - meeting his idol and favorite player and former champion Goran Ivanisevic while at the tournament.

"Yeah, it's quite a nice life, isn't it, really? I haven't experienced this. Goran just came around and shook my hand. He's my hero. I'm a bit, yeah."

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