Marcus willis he made a living giving tennis lessons when in 2016 he won seven Wimbledon qualifying matches to end up facing Roger Federer In the cathedral. Five years have passed since the great moment of his career and far from having catapulted him into the sport, the British tennis player finds himself working on his cousin's work away from the slopes.
Willis, who took the honor of being awarded the best shot of Wimbledon 2016 by a balloon over Federer, is now 30 years old and sees the withdrawal as the clearest option due to the little help that tennis players receive and the difficult situation in the there are those who are not 'top'. “I've been thinking about it for a while and I think it would cost me too much money over the next few years. Even if I accepted some sponsorship,” explains Willis in an interview with the Daily Mail. “I think it has become very difficult for us because of the few points they give us at the lower levels. It is something that they have to review. I will not be the only one in this situation and it is even worse for women. Even if it had been at a good level, it would have taken me two years to be where I would have liked. “
To exemplify the difficulties faced by tennis players who are not regulars of the Grand Slam, the Masters 1,000 and the ATP 500 and 250 that have to be beaten in the Challenger and Futures, Willis names his partner Lloyd Glasspool, world number 129. “He's a good player who has reached eight Challenger finals in the last five months, but he's still out of the top 100, where the money is.
He has not played for more than two months and his last adventure in tennis was in Greece, playing a couple of doubles tournaments, before he realized that it was not worth it and that it was a better idea to join his cousin's work and start laying bricks instead of hitting yellow balls. “I have a family to take care of and I am older. What worries me is that you are going to see more players of all ages leaving the sport. You have to play more tournaments to get more points and to survive you need more financial help. I hate to think about how many British tennis players I have seen end up in normal jobs when they could have reached much higher. It is a very difficult sport and I know there have been times that I have not been disciplined enough. It's been a nightmare dealing with it. “
Looking back, Willis proudly recalls those weeks at Wimbledon, both the pre-qualifying stage and his qualifying round at Roehampton, where beat two top 10s like Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev before moving on to the final draw, defeat Ricardas Berankis and face Federer. “Playing against Roger was fantastic and everything that followed was incredible, but perhaps the happiest day was when I collected my credential as a participant in the final draw knowing that I had gotten there through all of the previous one. It was very emotional to realize that he had done that, “adds Willis, who now hangs up his racket to hit the hammer.