Marcus Willis went from almost quitting tennis to finding “love at first sight” and pulling off an improbable win during the first round of Wimbledon on Monday.
The 25-year-old was ready to quit tennis and move from England to Philadelphia to coach, but a chance encounter with a woman, Jennifer Bate, changed everything.
Bate, who is now Willis’ girlfriend, told him he shouldn’t quit, and he immediately went home and told his mother he had found “the one.”
“I was adamant I was going to go to America to coach,” Willis told Ben Rothenberg of The New York Times. “I had called up someone about the visa — and then I met a girl. She basically told me I was an idiot and that I should keep going, and I’m very grateful for that.”
Bate added: “We just met, and honestly, it was a blur after that. We went on a little walk to get some fresh air before we’d get a cab. He said, ‘I’m meant to be going to America soon,’ and I was like: ‘What? You can’t go to America.’ The night we met, I said, ‘You’ve just met me; you can’t just move to America.’ I said it jokingly, and then he told me he was a tennis player. I thought, ‘Yeah, right, whatever.’
So Willis, who was ranked No. 775 in the world before qualifying at Wimbledon, decided to give tennis another shot.
Willis made Wimbledon’s main draw after receiving the last spot in Britain’s wild-card playoffs, and he added to his improbable journey Monday with a first-round victory over Ricardas Berankis. Willis, who had made just $356 in one tournament in 2016 so far, now is guaranteed to make $62,000 at the All-England Club.
And, to think, Willis was just days away from giving it all up. Now he’ll face Roger Federer in the second round.
