The Jerseyman, ranked 730 in the world, would have played in the pre-qualifying tournament for the grass-court Grand Slam had schedules at an ITF Futures event in Turkey not worked against him earlier this month. He was unable to make it back to the UK before the sign-in deadline for Wimbledon, and so Willis, ranked 772, filled the vacant spot.
The 25-year-old went on to win three pre-qualifiers and three qualifiers before beating world number 54 Ricardas Berankis in round one on Monday – a victory that set up yesterday’s clash with seven-time champion Federer.
‘I can tell you now I’ll be playing in it next year – I’m not going to Turkey,’ said Clayton.
Full story in Thursday’s JEP.
