“I’m not afraid to say it’s been a struggle some weeks”: Wimbledon star Marcus Willis on the importance of talking about mental health
“We’re all human, and for me, I’m not afraid to say it’s been a struggle some weeks, because that’s what it has been.”
Those are the words of professional tennis player Marcus Willis, who expressed the importance of speaking about mental health in an exclusive interview in December.
“I think it’s something that you have to persevere with and open up about because someone can help you, no matter who that is”
You may remember him as the crowd-pleasing Brit who in 2016 enjoyed a fairytale two weeks at the pinnacle of lawn tennis, Wimbledon. A story that in itself is very worthy of a film plot, after finishing with a battle against Roger Federer on Centre Court.
But 6 months prior to Wimbledon, Willis was struggling to get out of bed, living at home with little money, and seriously considering his options. It was a really rough patch being in his lowest position in the rankings since 2013, after an injury-plagued 12 months.
Coach Matt Smith made a big part in the transition of mindset, as did meeting his then-girlfriend, now wife, Jennifer Bate. Willis was enjoying coaching part-time at the Warwick Boat Club, ready to give up on tennis and begin coaching in America. He then met Bate, who helped talk her new partner out of quitting, not long after meeting him, seeing someone with potential.
After a stroke of luck earned Willis the final spot in pre-qualifying, ranked 772nd in the world, and 23rd in Great Britain, even getting to the main qualifying tournament would be a huge achievement.
“I won three matches in a row there, all in straight sets and I was just happy to get into the first qualifying round at Wimbledon, I made £4,500.
“I went 6-1 down in the first set (in qualifying round 1 vs Yūichi Sugita), but I was playing well and turned it around, I beat (Andrey) Rublev, then (Danil) Medvedev and now I’m playing (Ričardas) Berankis in the first round, on Court 17, with the chance to play Roger Federer.
“For someone who was thinking of moving to America and retiring, it was great.”
All three of Willis’ opponents in the qualifying tournament have been in the top 50 of the world rankings since. Medvedev and Rublev currently sit in the top 10, with the former being ranked world number one as recently as August 2022.
“It just happened a match at a time, I was confident, I was happy, I got my game out there, I had my luck of getting the last invitation to pre-qualifying and I finally got my lucky break.
“I thought it was due,” he joked, “not quite as extreme as the way it panned out, but I had the ability to do what I did, and it was sweeter to do it when you’re under the radar.”
The UK media went Willis-mad in the days leading up to the meeting, with the then 25-year-old appearing on the likes of This Morning. But rightly so, it was an excellent sporting story that captured the hearts of the nation, as he did the moment he stepped on Centre Court. How many people on the planet can say they won 7 games in a match against Roger Federer?
Willis never kicked on in the way he would like after Wimbledon, struggling mentally with elbow and knee problems, and the idea of even living up to 2016. He was working on his cousin’s building site in 2021 after he announced an initial retirement, only a year after an attempted doubles comeback, and started a podcast when the UK went into lockdown.
But, two years after retiring due to falling out of love with the game, Willis is giving it one last shot at making it in professional tennis, again, on the doubles side of the game. With a renewed mindset, he believes this is his greatest opportunity.
“I’ve loved it, I’ve had a great start back,” he told me, proud of his efforts at reaching 448th in the doubles world ranking. Willis has climbed nearly 1500 places in the ATP ranking since February 2022. He believes the experience dealing with mental health struggles has helped put him in this position.
“It’s gone really well so far, I’ve had a small setback, but these things happen. This time I was ready though, when it happened, I was like ‘this is what I’m ready for’ mentally, and if it happened again tomorrow I’d be ready for it again.”
“Before I was expecting to go through life with nothing bad happening, but I don’t have that expectation anymore, there’s always something positive you can get out of any situation.”
Willis concluded our chat, revealing his ambitions during his comeback attempt, “I’d like to play all four grand slams”, he revealed, “That’s miles away from where I am right now, I need to get myself to Wimbledon first and then win matches at Challenger and ATP level. It could take years, but that’s my end goal!”
You can listen to the full interview with Marcus Willis below.