Marcus Willis and his double partner Scott Duncan won the Maspalomas Challenger, beating Markos Kalovelonis and Kelsey Stevenson.
Willis had some challenges this year as in July, he was waiting for a call, which never came, so he was left without sponsors and said, “I was not able to afford a coach.”
But the British tennis player claimed his first challenger title in his last tournament of the season, which people were surprised he would win on the clay surface as he had been playing on hard surfaces for a lot of the year.
Willis claims that this is high up in a career as to win a double challenger is “very hard to win one”, but he also has crept into the top 200 of the world, which was his highest moment of the year.
The 33-year-old has climbed up the rankings this year going from 450th last year to now being 166th but he stated that he won’t expect to be in the top 100 next year saying “The points I’ve made this I would need to double it to get into the top 100.”
Climbing up the rankings get harder as you move further up due to the sheer quality ahead of saying he would need to win at least 5 title next year to move into the top 100.
The man from Slough was hoping to get a Wildcard for Wimbledon this year, but he never got the call, which motivated him mentally to not think about things like that and just concentrate on his own game.
Back in 2016, world No.772 Marcus Willis faced Roger Federer on Centre Court after coming through pre-Qualifying, Qualifying and the first round ✨
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) March 4, 2021
With @willbomb90 announcing his retirement from tennis, we just had to relive this moment from a truly unique encounter… pic.twitter.com/1qGWZIuf68
“That’s the problem a lot of people think you deserve it, but nothing happens,” Willis said this as a lot of tennis fans thought he deserved a chance at Wimbledon.
Willis and his wife Jenny Bete have had kids since his last appearance at Wimbledon, but he states, “I don’t know if they have ever seen me play,” due to his kids being in school and the problems of taking them out of school to watch him play.
Willis has played most tournaments closer to home this year due to funds and not having sponsors to pay for him to play further abroad, but he hopes to play in India next year, where he expects himself to win.
The left-handed player spoke about missing out on Wimbledon and feeling ignored “At first, you feel like you have been ignored… we’ve known what we’ve done… we’ve got work to do.”
First @ATPChallenger title! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/UEf3H7K3sL
— Marcus Willis (@Willbomb90) December 2, 2023
Willis had to set up a GoFundMe this year due to finances, but this win would feel even sweeter with all the problems he has had this year, and he doesn’t want to finish here and hopes to build on more wins in the future.
The 33-year-old came back onto the clay for this win, which was his first ATP Tour challenger. It was a surprise to many people as he hasn’t played much this year, but he claimed that it helped. “It did help to come back onto the clay again.”
