Marcus Willis: My Wimbledon journey has been madness

A tennis player who shot into the limelight after his Wimbledon debut on Monday has described his journey as "madness".

Marcus Willis, a current club coach ranked 772 in the world, came through six qualification matches to reach this year's tournament.

The 25-year-old recorded a sensational 6-3 6-3 6-4 win over Ricardas Berankis, to set up a second round meeting with 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer.

Speaking to ITV News before his match, Willis said: "I'm loving it. If I only had one word, it would be madness."

The player, who was close to quitting the sport earlier this year, has his girlfriend Jenny Bate to thank for persuading him to stay in the UK and develop his tennis career - instead of moving to America.

She said: "We had that conversation a week after we met. I knew Marcus was in to tennis and I took it my stride really, didn't really take it that seriously.

"It was my brother that said 'this guy is a really good player Jen, what's he doing?'

"When he said he was moving to America I said 'that's it, you're not going. You can't do it. Stay!'", she added.

Willis stands to earn £50,000 for his Centre Court showdown with Federer on Wednesday afternoon - but on being told of the potential prize money on offer at the All England Club, he said: "It's nice, but I'm still going to keep working - and I've got lots of work on and improve on.

"Nothing's guaranteed, is it? But I'm a lot more confident now."