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Marcus Willis

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Marcus Willis (born 9 October 1990) is a British professional tennis player who currently specialises in doubles. He has a career high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 75 achieved on 2 February 2026 and a singles ranking of No. 322 achieved on 16 June 2014.

Willis made his ATP tour debut at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships after qualifying for the main draw, where he gained recognition after playing against Roger Federer in the second round on Centre Court.

He has won 9 titles on the ATP Challenger Tour and 37 on the ITF World Tennis Tour from 70 career doubles finals. He has a record of 46 wins and 24 losses. He has also won 9 singles titles on the ITF Tour from 16 finals.

Willis also played touchtennis, in which he has a career-high ranking of No. 1 in singles, having won 13 singles and two doubles titles.

Personal life

Willis began playing tennis at the age of 9. His mother is a learning support assistant and his father is an accountant. Willis attended St Paul's Primary School, Wokingham and The Forest School, Winnersh. Willis is married to Jennifer Bate, an NHS dental surgeon and former beauty model whom he had met at a concert.

Juniors

Willis played his first junior match in April 2006 at the age of 15 at a grade 5 tournament in the UK. Throughout his junior career, he reached a high of No. 15 in the combined junior world rankings in September 2008 at posted a win–loss record of 92–36.

Willis was sent home from the 2008 Australian Open by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) for his "slack attitude" when he missed the bus to a practice session and eventually arrived without rackets, having left them at his hotel.

Junior Slam results – Singles:

Australian Open: A (—)
French Open: 2R (2008)
Wimbledon: 3R (2007, 2008)
US Open: 2R (2008)

Junior Slam results – Doubles:

Australian Open: A (—)
French Open: 1R (2008)
Wimbledon: 2R (2007)
US Open: 2R (2008)

Professional career

2007–2015

Willis officially turned pro in 2007 at the age of 17. Throughout 2007–2015, he made 14 ITF singles finals and 41 ITF doubles finals (winning 8 singles and 25 doubles). He only made one challenger final, the 2014 Charlottesville Challenger where he made the doubles final partnering Lewis Burton where they lost to top seed Treat Huey and Frederik Nielsen in three sets. He got a wildcard spot into the 2009 Wimbledon Qualifying where he lost in the second round and the 2014 Wimbledon Qualifying where he lost in the first round. He achieved a career-high ranking of 322 on June 16, 2014.

2016: Wimbledon second round

The only success for Willis in the first five months of 2016 was qualifying for the Tunisia Futures F1 in January, and progressing to the quarterfinals, where he won $356. His failure to defend the previous year's points led to his ranking falling to number 772 by the start of Wimbledon.

Willis was considering his retirement in 2016 as he had just torn his hamstring and was offered a tennis teaching job in Philadelphia. His girlfriend, Jennifer Bate, convinced him to keep playing professional tennis and to give it one more try. He trained heavily throughout February to May to play his next event at Wimbledon qualifying.

Willis was awarded a spot into the qualifying draw after countryman David Rice withdrew. He won three matches to qualify for the main draw of the 2016 Wimbledon Championships, which included wins against future top-ten players Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev. In the first round, Willis upset Ričardas Berankis, a player ranked more than 700 places above him, to set up a clash with seven-time champion Roger Federer. Willis was defeated by Federer 6–0, 6–3, 6–4 on Centre Court in the second round, receiving a standing ovation nevertheless. The BBC later held a vote for the best shot made of the tournament, and Willis's lob over Federer earned him the win.

Injury prevented Willis from playing immediately after Wimbledon 2016, but he was given a wild card into qualifying for the Vienna Open in Vienna over the weekend of October 22–23. He has also been invited to play Tie Break Tens at the same venue on Sunday 23 October, against Andy Murray, Dominic Thiem and Jo Wilfried Tsonga.

His second tournament after Wimbledon was a Future in Kuwait which he won both the singles and the doubles.

2017: Wimbledon doubles third round

Willis played few tournaments in the first half of 2017 due to injuries and becoming a father to his first child (a girl) but played in the Great Britain F1, F2 and F3, reaching the second round, semi-finals and finals respectively, winning $2283 overall. He then reached the quarter-finals of the U.S.A. F15 but lost in the first round of the Spain F14. He then failed to qualify for the Challenger in Surbiton and then reached the second round of the Ilkley Challenger, losing to Sam Groth.

At the 2017 Wimbledon Championships, Willis lost in the final round of qualifying to Illya Marchenko in straight sets, although Willis had been hindered by a knee injury he suffered against fellow Brit Liam Broady in the previous round. Since he failed to defend his points from last years Wimbledon his ranking fell below number 500 in the world.

In the Wimbledon doubles, he and partner Jay Clarke had been awarded a wild card for the main draw. In the opening round, they beat Jared Donaldson and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan after coming back from two sets to love. They caused a big surprise by defeating the defending champions and second seeds Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the next round, also in a five-setter. Their run ended with a loss to Oliver Marach and Mate Pavić in the third round.

2018–2020: Final years in singles

Willis missed Wimbledon in singles after losing to Dan Evans in the pre-qualifying playoffs. His final professional match was in the qualifying event for the 2018 Wimbledon doubles. After Wimbledon, he played for the San Diego Aviators in the 2018 World TeamTennis league, where the team narrowly missed the WTT finals.

He had continued to play doubles tournaments at Futures events since November 2020.

His most recent participation in touchtennis dated back to September 2020, prior to his return in 2022.

2021: Retirement

In March 2021, Willis announced he was retiring from the sport.

2022–2023: Doubles comeback, first Challenger title

WIllis resumed playing doubles on the ITF tour from August 2022. Until May 2023, he won seven ITF 25k tournaments, six of them with partner Scott Duncan. He then mainly plays on the ATP Challenger Tour. On 2 December 2023, he won his first ATP Challenger title in Maspalomas, again with partner Duncan.

2024: Wimbledon mixed doubles quarterfinal, top 100 in doubles

In January, Willis won his second doubles title on the ATP Challenger Tour in Oeiras, partnering Jay Clarke. Over the course of the next five months he went on to win another five Challenger titles including his first on grass at the Nottingham Open, where he and John Peers defeated Harold Mayot and Luke Saville in the final when Ch went ti a deciding champions tiebreak. As a result of winning the title he reached the top 100 in the doubles rankings on 17 June 2024.

Partnering Alicia Barnett at Wimbledon, Willis reached the mixed doubles quarterfinals, losing to Santiago González and Giuliana Olmos in straight sets.

In October, he won his seventh Challenger title of the season at the Taipei OEC Open, partnering David Stevenson to a straight sets victory over Nam Ji-sung and Joshua Paris in the final.

2025: Maiden ATP Tour doubles final

Partnering Patrik Trhac, Willis reached his first ATP Tour doubles final at the Croatia Open, losing to fourth seeds Romain Arneodo and Manuel Guinard.

In August, he made his debut at the US Open, after receiving a last-minute place in the draw as an alternate alongside Karol Drzewiecki following the withdrawal of Francisco Cerúndolo and Federico Agustín Gómez. They defeated 16th seeds Matthew Ebden and Jordan Thompson, before overcoming John Peers and Jackson Withrow to reach the third round, at which point they lost to Tomáš Macháč and Matěj Vocel.

Performance timelines

Singles

Grand Slam tournaments

Wimbledon

0 / 1

1–1

Career statistics

Overall win–loss

0–0

1–1

0–0

1–1

Year-end ranking

965

606

609

729

962

350

365

474

441

598

–

Doubles

Current through the 2026 Open Occitanie.

Grand Slam tournaments

Australian Open

0 / 1

1–1

French Open

0 / 0

0–0

Wimbledon

0 / 3

3–3

US Open

0 / 1

2–1

Win–loss

0–0

2–1

0–0

0–1

3–2

1–1

0 / 5

6–5

Career statistics

Tournaments

Titles

Finals

Overall win–loss

0–0

2–1

0–0

0–1

8–7

2–2

12–11

Year-end ranking

–

378

489

617

898

325

251

432

1052

230

750

–

1367

1470

446

166

Mixed doubles

Grand Slam tournaments
Wimbledon	QF	1R	0 / 2	2–2

ATP Tour finals

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

{class=wikitable style="font-size:90%" !Legend

Grand Slam (0–0)

ATP 1000 (0–0)

ATP 500 (0–0)

ATP 250 (0–1)

Hard (0–0)

Clay (0–1)

Grass (0–0)

Loss

0–1

Croatia Open, Croatia

ATP 250

Clay

Patrik Trhac

Romain Arneodo
Manuel Guinard

5–7, 6–7^(2–7)

ATP Challenger finals

Doubles: 14 (10 titles, 4 runner-ups)

Hard (5–4)

Clay (4–0)

Grass (1–0)

Loss	0–1	Charlottesville, United States	Hard (i)	Lewis Burton	Treat Huey Frederik Nielsen	6–3, 3–6, 2–10
Win	1–1	Maspalomas, Spain	Clay	Scott Duncan	Théo Arribagé Sadio Doumbia	7–6^(7–5), 6–4
Win	2–1	Oeiras Indoors, Portugal	Hard (i)	Jay Clarke	Théo Arribagé Michael Geerts	6–4, 6–7^(9–11), 10–3
Loss	2–2	Oeiras, Portugal	Hard (i)	Arjun Kadhe	Karol Drzewiecki Piotr Matuszewski	3–6, 4–6
Win	3–2	Glasgow, United Kingdom	Hard (i)	Scott Duncan	Kyle Edmund Henry Searle	6–3, 6–2
Win	4–2	Lille, France	Hard (i)	Christian Harrison	Titouan Droguet Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard	7–6^(8–6), 6–3
Win	5–2	Savannah, United States	Clay	Christian Harrison	Simon Freund Johannes Ingildsen	6–3, 6–3
Win	6–2	Tunis Open, Tunisia	Clay	Federico Agustín Gómez	Patrik Rikl Michael Vrbenský	4–6, 6–1, 10–6
Win	7–2	Nottingham Open, United Kingdom	Grass	John Peers	Harold Mayot Luke Saville	6–1, 6–7^(1–7), 10–7
Win	8–2	Taipei, Taiwan	Hard (i)	David Stevenson	Nam Ji-sung Joshua Paris	6–3, 6–3
Loss	8–3	Glasgow, United Kingdom	Hard (i)	Vasil Kirkov	Daniel Cukierman Joshua Paris	7–5, 4–6, 10–12
Win	9–3	San Luis Potosí, Mexico	Clay	Ivan Liutarevich	Trey Hilderbrand Alfredo Perez	6–3, 6–4
Loss	9–4	Slovak Open, Slovakia	Hard (i)	Joshua Paris	Sander Gillé Sem Verbeek	6–7^(3–7), 3–6
Win	10–4	Bergamo, Italy	Hard (i)	Joshua Paris	David Poljak Tim Rühl	7–6^(7–3), 6–4

ITF Tour finals

Singles: 16 (9–7)

Hard (7–7)

Clay (1–0)

Grass (1–0)

Loss	0–1	Great Britain F16, Glasgow	Hard (i)	Dan Evans	2–6, 1–3 ret.
Win	1–1	Great Britain F1, Glasgow	Hard (i)	Josh Goodall	6–4, 6–4
Loss	1–2	Great Britain F6, Shrewsbury	Hard (i)	Dan Evans	6–7^(3–7), 6–7^(1–7)
Win	2–2	Great Britain F14, Felixstowe	Grass	Neil Pauffley	6–2, 6–4
Loss	2–3	Great Britain F17, Wrexham	Hard	Daniel Cox	2–6, 3–6
Loss	2–4	Kuwait F2, Mishref	Hard	Ivo Klec	6–3, 1–6, 4–6
Win	3–4	Kuwait F3, Mishref	Hard	Tak Khunn Wang	6–3, 6–2
Loss	3–5	Thailand F3, Nonthaburi	Hard	Chung Hyeon	2–6, 4–6
Win	4–5	Great Britain F8, Tipton	Hard (i)	Sam Barry	7–6^(7–4), 6–4
Win	5–5	Great Britain F10, Edinburgh	Clay	Neil Pauffley	6–1, 6–3
Loss	5–6	Great Britain F15, London	Hard	Frederik Nielsen	6–2, 4–6, 4–6
Win	6–6	Spain F27, Madrid	Hard	Mick Lescure	6–3, 6–2
Win	7–6	Spain F11, Móstoles	Hard	Jorge Hernando-Ruano	6–7^(14–16), 6–3, 7–6^(10–8)
Win	8–6	Egypt F20, Sharm El Sheikh	Hard	Julien Dubail	7–5, 6–7^(8–10), 7–5
Win	9–6	Kuwait F3, Mishref	Hard	Daniel Altmaier	6–3, 7–6^(10–8)
Loss	9–7	Great Britain F3, Shrewsbury	Hard (i)	Oscar Otte	5–7, 6–7^(4–7)

Doubles: 58 (37–21)

Hard (27–17)

Clay (6–3)

Grass (2–1)

Carpet (2–0)

Loss	0–1	France F2, Feucherolles	Hard (i)	Dan Evans	Olivier Charroin Nicolas Tourte	3–6, 4–6
Win	1–1	Great Britain F6, Edinburgh	Clay	Daniel Smethurst	Richard Gabb Ashley Hewitt	6–7^(3–7), 6–3, 14–12
Loss	1–2	Great Britain F9, Frinton-on-Sea	Grass	Neil Pauffley	Tristan Farron-Mahon Colin O'Brien	7–6^(7–5), 6–7^(3–7), 6–10
Loss	1–3	Belgium F2, Koksijde	Clay	Alexander Ward	Rabie Chaki Frederic De Fays	3–6, 2–6
Win	2–3	Italy F28, Porto Torres	Hard	Vasek Pospisil	Alessandro Giannessi Francesco Piccari	4–6, 6–3, 10–8
Loss	2–4	Italy F29, Alghero	Hard	Vasek Pospisil	Federico Gaio Alessandro Giannessi	2–6, 5–7
Loss	2–5	Great Britain F6, Edinburgh	Clay	Barry King	James Cluskey Colin O'Brien	3–6, 3–6
Loss	2–6	Great Britain F7, Newcastle	Clay	Maniel Bains	Ignacio Coll Riudavets Gerard Granollers	1–6, 4–6
Loss	2–7	Great Britain F14, Nottingham	Hard	Sean Thornley	Lewis Burton Dan Evans	5–7, 6–1, 11–13
Win	3–7	Greece F3, Heraklion	Carpet	Daniel Glancy	Sam Barry Colin O'Brien	7–5, 5–7, 10–8
Loss	3–8	Great Britain F3, Tipton	Hard (i)	Miles Bugby	Chris Eaton Josh Goodall	2–6, 2–6
Win	4–8	Great Britain F14, Roehampton	Hard	Josh Goodall	Lewis Burton James Marsalek	6–3, 5–7, 10–5
Win	5–8	Great Britain F15, Nottingham	Hard	Josh Goodall	David Rice Sean Thornley	6–4, 7–6^(8–6)
Win	6–8	Great Britain F9, Manchester	Grass	Josh Goodall	Tom Burn Dan Evans	6–2, 7–6^(7–3)
Win	7–8	Great Britain F10, Edinburgh	Clay	Matthew Short	Richard Gabb Jonny O'Mara	4–6, 6–4, 10–8
Win	8–8	Great Britain F17, Wrexham	Hard	George Coupland	Liam Broady Joshua Ward-Hibbert	7–6^(8–6), 6–3
Win	9–8	Great Britain F18, Sheffield	Hard	Lewis Burton	Richard Bloomfield Daniel Cox	6–1, 6–1
Win	10–8	Great Britain F19, Roehampton	Hard	Lewis Burton	Edward Corrie Joshua Ward-Hibbert	4–6, 6–4, 10–8
Win	11–8	Kuwait F1, Mishref	Hard	Lewis Burton	Patrick Davidson Saketh Myneni	6–4, 7–5
Loss	11–9	Kuwait F2, Mishref	Hard	Lewis Burton	Ruan Roelofse Tak Khunn Wang	6–4, 3–6, 6–10
Win	12–9	Kuwait F3, Mishref	Hard	Lewis Burton	Thomas Statzberger Sam Weissborn	6–2, 6–2
Win	13–9	Great Britain F22, Tipton	Hard (i)	Lewis Burton	Graeme Dyce Calum Gee	7–6^(7–0), 6–2
Win	14–9	Greece F20, Rethymno	Hard	Lewis Burton	Nikola Čačić Alexandros Jakupovic	6–4, 7–6^(7–5)
Win	15–9	Israel F1, Eilat	Hard	Lewis Burton	Shonigmatjon Shofayziyev Anton Zaitcev	6–3, 6–4
Loss	15–10	Israel F2, Eilat	Hard	Lewis Burton	Huang Liang-chi Amir Weintraub	3–6, 6–7^(9–11)
Win	16–10	Israel F3, Eilat	Hard	Lewis Burton	Claudio Grassi Amir Weintraub	6–3, 7–5
Loss	16–11	Thailand F1, Nonthaburi	Hard	Lewis Burton	Yuichi Ito Hiroki Kondo	6–3, 3–6, 8–10
Loss	16–12	Thailand F2, Nonthaburi	Hard	Lewis Burton	Chung Hyeon Nam Ji-sung	4–6, 7–6^(7–4), 7–10
Win	17–12	Thailand F3, Nonthaburi	Hard	Lewis Burton	Chung Hyeon Nam Ji-sung	6–3, 7–5
Win	18–12	Great Britain F8, Tipton	Hard (i)	Lewis Burton	David Rice Sean Thornley	4–6, 7–6^(7–5), 10–6
Win	19–12	Great Britain F9, Bournemouth	Clay	Lewis Burton	Jake Eames Brydan Klein	6–1, 7–5
Win	20–12	Great Britain F10, Edinburgh	Clay	Jonny O'Mara	Maverick Banes Gavin van Peperzeel	7–6^(7–3), 6–1
Win	21–12	Great Britain F11, Newcastle	Clay	Jonny O'Mara	Maverick Banes Gavin van Peperzeel	7–6^(10–8), 6–1
Loss	21–13	Spain F24, Pozoblanco	Hard	Lewis Burton	Edward Corrie David Rice	4–6, 5–7
Win	22–13	Great Britain F2, Sunderland	Hard (i)	Lewis Burton	Isak Arvidsson Micke Kontinen	6–3, 6–2
Loss	22–14	Great Britain F5, Shrewsbury	Hard (i)	Sean Thornley	Luke Bambridge Scott Clayton	6–7^(3–7), 4–6
Loss	22–15	Spain F11, Móstoles	Hard	José Checa Calvo	Juan-Samuel Arauzo Ivan Arenas-Gualda	3–6, 7–5, 5–10
Win	23–15	Egypt F19, Sharm El Sheikh	Hard	Daniel Smethurst	Karim-Mohamed Maamoun Issam Haitham Taweel	6–4, 6–4
Win	24–15	Egypt F20, Sharm El Sheikh	Hard	Daniel Smethurst	Karim Hossam Issam Haitham Taweel	6–1, 6–3
Win	25–15	Great Britain F6, Frinton	Grass	Daniel Smethurst	Evan Hoyt Bradley Mousley	6–4, 6–4
Loss	25–16	Sweden F4, Falun	Hard (i)	James Marsalek	David O'Hare Joe Salisbury	3–6, 5–7
Win	26–16	Kuwait F3, Mishref	Hard	Daniel Altmaier	Roy Sarut De Valk Ronan Joncour	6–1, 6–1
Loss	26–17	Great Britain F3, Shrewsbury	Hard (i)	Jack Molloy	Scott Clayton Luke Johnson	6–3, 4–6, 6–10
Win	27–17	Portugal F17, Sintra	Hard	Edward Corrie	Yanais Laurent Maxime Tchoutakian	6–1, 6–4
Loss	27–18	Great Britain F1, Glasgow	Hard (i)	Neil Pauffley	Matthias Haim Jakob Sude	3–6, 7–6^(7–5), 6–10
Win	28–18	Great Britain F3, Shrewsbury	Hard (i)	Scott Clayton	Harri Heliövaara Frederik Nielsen	6–2, 7–5
Loss	28–19	France M25, Bagnères-de-Bigorre	Hard	James MacKinlay	Joris de Loore Yannick Mertens	6–7^(3–7), 7–6^(8–6), 6–10
Win	29–19	Spain M25, Madrid	Clay	Scott Duncan	Lamine Ouahab Mohamed Nazim Makhlouf	6–1, 6–3
Loss	29–20	France M25, Nevers	Hard (i)	Federico Agustín Gómez	Sascha Gueymard Wayenburg Antoine Hoang	7–6^(12–10), 6–7^(5–7), 7–10
Win	30–20	France M25, Sarreguemines	Carpet (i)	Scott Duncan	Grégoire Jacq Arthur Bouquier	4–6, 6–3, 10–8
Win	31–20	France M15, Villers-lès-Nancy	Hard (i)	Scott Duncan	Grégoire Jacq Arthur Bouquier	6–1, 2–0 ret.
Win	32–20	Great Britain M25, Sheffield	Hard (i)	Scott Duncan	Corentin Denolly Simon Freund	6–3, 6–4
Win	33–20	Great Britain M25, Bath	Hard (i)	Scott Duncan	Ben Jones Daniel Little	6–3, 6–4
Loss	33–21	Canada M25, Montreal	Hard (i)	Scott Duncan	Juan Carlos Aguilar Joe Tyler	4–6, 7–5, 9–11
Win	34–21	Great Britain M25, Nottingham	Hard	Neil Oberleitner	August Holmgren Johannes Ingildsen	7–6^(7–1), 6–3
Win	35–21	Great Britain M25, Nottingham	Hard	Scott Duncan	Giles Hussey Ben Jones	6–3, 6–2
Win	36–21	Great Britain M25, Sunderland	Hard (i)	David Stevenson	James Davis Joshua Goodger	6–4, 7–6^(7–3)
Win	37–21	Great Britain M25, Sunderland	Hard (i)	David Stevenson	Dan Added Clément Chidekh	4–6, 7–6^(8–6), 10–8