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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS WIMBLEDONJuly 5, 2017Marcus WillisJay ClarkeWimbledon, London, England CLARKE-WILLIS/Donaldson-Nedunchezhiyan 6-7, 5-7, 7-6, 6-0, 6-3 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How did it feel out there? MARCUS WILLIS: Yeah, doesn't get much better than that. Well, winning in straights is probably better (smiling). The atmosphere at the end was awesome. We both fought very, very hard. Did well, yeah. Q. What turned the tide? Two sets down, looked pretty desperate, right? JAY CLARKE: We had chances. 30-All games. We just weren't breaking. We knew as soon as we got one break... They weren't really getting points at the start of the match. Even midway through the second, they were struggling on it. Then they got the break end of the second. But we knew we were really close. Just kept our serve and stayed in it till a tiebreak. We needed a bit of luck. That's what we got. We also played well, so yeah. Q. Tough match now coming up. MARCUS WILLIS: Who are we playing? Q. Could be Mahut. MARCUS WILLIS: Probably will be. I just didn't know if they'd played yet. JAY CLARKE: They're playing the guys who made the final of the French Open. MARCUS WILLIS: Easy draw (smiling). I'm good at getting good second-round draws. Q. How does this compare? Everyone knows you from what happened last year. Is it good to be involved again? MARCUS WILLIS: It's great. I'm buzzing right now. It's what you dream of when you're a player, coming back at Wimbledon, two sets down, packed crowd going crazy. It's a very, very good moment, yeah. Q. Did you meet Federer here? MARCUS WILLIS: I haven't yet, no. Q. Because you know him quite well. MARCUS WILLIS: Well, I wouldn't go that far. Me and Roger are like that (laughter). Haven't bumped into him yet. The top guys have their own locker rooms, don't they? Q. Was there any change after the year, after last year, in your life? MARCUS WILLIS: Got married and had a baby. That's fairly big, fairly big change. Not actually. I'm happy. I'm cracking on with it. Going back on tour soon. Looking forward to that. Q. You still play for a German club. MARCUS WILLIS: Yes, Cologne, MSC. Q. How did the people react when you first came back after Wimbledon last year? MARCUS WILLIS: Really happy, obviously, for me. They wanted me to go win my match. I lost my first match, then won my second. People, friends, other players are really happy for me. You go and try to win matches there. Q. Jay, how was this for you, first experience at main draw at Wimbledon? JAY CLARKE: Yeah, like Will said, doesn't get much better than this. It was so nice because the crowd stayed. It's very easy for them to obviously go at two sets down. Actually I think it got more full towards the end, which helped a lot. There were moments when obviously it would have been easy for us not to give up. A lot of points we won were really scrappy. I think if you're not, like, trying to make stuff happen, then those points don't come. We worked really hard. The opportunities came in the end. It's great. Q. What is your history of playing together? MARCUS WILLIS: Our first tournament was a few weeks ago. We wanted to play a bit more, but the cuts are so strong in the upcoming challengers, and we didn't get a wild card in, because there are obviously other good British doubles pairs. They gave us one, too. Pretty good pair first round. Lost 10-8 in the tiebreak in the second. Got a pretty good understanding together. We complement each other. Q. Are you still working things out a bit as you go along on court? MARCUS WILLIS: Not really. I feel like, you know, we haven't clashed racquets. We got a good understanding of what's going on so far. JAY CLARKE: Yeah. Q. How did the partnership come about? MARCUS WILLIS: Just said before the grass season, Do you want to play dubs this grass season? Q. Who asked who then? MARCUS WILLIS: I can't really remember. JAY CLARKE: I asked him. MARCUS WILLIS: Did you? JAY CLARKE: Yeah. MARCUS WILLIS: Yeah, no, easy decision really, that one. Q. Seemed like it was a really fun crowd especially towards the end. Looked like an amazing atmosphere. MARCUS WILLIS: It was loud out there, loud, especially at the end. Crowd got behind us. Had an advantage. Our home slam. No, it was great. I'm still buzzing from it, as I said. Great fight. It was a really, really good fight. As he said, we could have let our heads drop. We said on the bathroom break two sets down, We can still win this. I still think we're the better team. We went and proved it. Q. Do you think you can pull off another shock in the next round? MARCUS WILLIS: Yeah. Everybody is winnable. It's doubles. Yeah, they're obviously going to be the favorites. But we've got the skills to beat them. JAY CLARKE: A small chance, yeah. Q. How does your body feel? MARCUS WILLIS: A bit sore. Nothing major. Doubles is quite explosive. But the rallies aren't long. Your lungs, it's easy. For your legs, it's tough. You get up to serve, moving a lot. JAY CLARKE: Short distances, yes. MARCUS WILLIS: Short and sharp. Legs ache. But lungs are fine. Q. You'll are fine? MARCUS WILLIS: Yeah, yeah, I'm all right. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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