Tennis world No 772 Marcus Willis serves up an underdog fairytale
The fact that Marcus Willis was appearing at Wimbledon at all, he said earlier this week, was already “surreal” – only the 23rd best player in Britain and the world No 772, he is the second lowest-ranked player in the men’s singles competition this year and the lowest-ranked player to have earned a place through qualifying in almost 20 years.
He had better get used to it, because a match with Roger Federer could be next. The 25-year-old left-hander from Slough, who lives with his parents, served up one of Wimbledon’s famous plucky underdog fairytales when he defeated Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis – ranked a mere 718 places above him – on the opening day of the tournament.
