Marcus Willis plays touchtennis, in which he has a career-high ranking of No 2 in singles, having won 12 singles and two doubles titles.
21 Facts About Marcus Willis
2.
Marcus Willis's mother is a learning support assistant and his father is an accountant.
3.
Marcus Willis attended St Paul's Primary School, Wokingham and The Forest School, Winnersh.
4.
Marcus Willis is married to Jennifer Bate, an NHS dental surgeon and former beauty model whom he had met at a concert.
5.
Marcus Willis played his first junior match in April 2006 at the age of 15 at a grade 5 tournament in the UK.
6.
Marcus Willis was sent home from the 2008 Australian Open by the Lawn Tennis Association for his "slack attitude" when he missed the bus to a practice session and eventually arrived without rackets, having left them at his hotel.
7.
Marcus Willis officially turned pro in 2007 at the age of 17.
8.
Marcus Willis only made one challenger final, the 2014 Charlottesville Challenger where he made the doubles final partnering Lewis Burton where they lost to top seed Treat Huey and Frederik Nielsen in three sets.
9.
Marcus Willis got a wildcard spot into the 2009 Wimbledon Qualifying where he lost in the second round and the 2014 Wimbledon Qualifying where he lost in the first round.
10.
Marcus Willis achieved a career-high ranking of 322 on June 16,2014.
11.
Marcus Willis was considering his retirement in 2016 as he had just torn his hamstring and was offered a tennis teaching job in Philadelphia.
12.
Marcus Willis was awarded a spot into the qualifying draw after countryman David Rice withdrew.
13.
Marcus Willis won six matches to qualify for the main draw of the 2016 Wimbledon Championships, which included wins against Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev.
14.
Marcus Willis's second tournament after Wimbledon was a Future in Kuwait which he won both the singles and the doubles.
15.
Marcus Willis played few tournaments in the first half of 2017 due to injuries and becoming a father to his first child but played in the Great Britain F1, F2 and F3, reaching the second round, semi-finals and finals respectively, winning $2283 overall.
16.
Marcus Willis then reached the quarter-finals of the USA F15 but lost in the first round of the Spain F14.
17.
Marcus Willis then failed to qualify for the Challenger in Surbiton and then reached the second round of the Ilkley Challenger, losing to Sam Groth.
18.
At the 2017 Wimbledon Championships, Marcus Willis lost in the final round of qualifying to Illya Marchenko in straight sets, although Marcus Willis had been hindered by a knee injury he suffered against fellow Brit Liam Broady in the previous round.
19.
Marcus Willis missed Wimbledon in singles after losing to Dan Evans in the pre-qualifying playoffs.
20.
Marcus Willis had continued to play doubles tournaments at Futures events since November 2020.
21.
In March 2021, Marcus Willis announced he was retiring from the sport.