By Chris Oddo | Wednesday, June 29, 2016
World No. 772 Marcus Willis was 30 minutes late for his moment in the sun, but the buzz of the first three days of Wimbledon finally got his wake-up call and created a highly entertaining spectacle for a boisterous Centre Court crowd on Day 3, losing 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 to Roger Federer.
More: Djokovic Cruises into Wimbledon's Third Round
Willis may have had his moment too soon.
The Brit walked out for his first Centre Court appointment ahead of Federer to a rousing applause. He could hardly contain his excitement as the crowd chanted for him while he pulled a pair of racquets out of his bag.
Moments later he raised his arms triumphantly after he landed his first warm-up serve. Clearly acting like he had been there before was not in Willis’ gameplan.
Once underway, Willis, though active and earnest and hustly and bustly, could not find a way to crack the Federer code. He was blanked in set one and did not see a game point until the 22nd minute of the match. That went by the wayside but Willis got on the board at the 30-minute mark and proceeded to play some good tennis from there. He fell behind by a break in the second set before dropping it, and in the third set he stayed even with Federer all the way to 4-4 before yielding the final two games.
Federer also seemed to revel in the unique excitement of the match. He had shown great support for Willis early in the week, saying that he was following the story closely and adding that tennis needs this type of excitement to keep things interesting.
But the 34-year-old, who improved to 81-11 lifetime at Wimbledon and pulled just three wins behind Jimmy Connors on the all-time win list, didn’t want to have too much fun.
“I enjoyed it as much as I possibly could, but I also had to put my head down and focus really hard to get the lead in the first set,” Federer said. “I knew he could play. I knew he could serve very well. With his chipping and coming in, going for broke sometimes, it was always going to be a tricky match. But I was relieved when I got the break in the third just because, you know. It was nice, but difficult in some ways.”
Willis, who earned 50K British Pounds for his effort, seemed still to be running on adrenaline after the match. “Centre Court, the atmosphere is amazing,” he said. “I thought I played okay. I was in games. I just didn't get on the board. He makes you play. He's class.”
When asked what memento he could take away from the match, Willis was quick to add. “There's so many,” he said. “I played a good point where I lobbed him. I can say I lobbed Roger Federer.”
He added: “It was all just a blur. It was amazing. I did enjoy myself even though I was getting duffed up. I loved every bit of it. Not the duffing bit. I loved getting stuck in, fighting hard. Nothing in particular, just the whole experience was incredible.”
Notes, Numbers
Federer and Djokovic are the only men to have reached the third round after three days of play at Wimbledon. Rain has wreaked havoc on schedulers for the last two days.
In his career Federer has only lost to one player ranked outside of the Top 200. He lost to Spain’s Sergi Bruguera, who was ranked 249 at the time, in Barcelona in 2000.
The 7-time Wimbledon champion has reached the third round 14 times in 18 Wimbledon appearances.
Federer is also looking to close the gap on Martina Navratilova for the most Grand Slam singles wins by a man or woman. Navratilova has a 306-49 win-loss record at the Grand Slams, ahead of Federer (303-50), Chris Evert (299-37) and Serena Williams (298-42).