What the heck?! I've not been following the Brits below about 200-300 much and am very sporadic so it totally shocked me to see Billy, who TBH I've never really paid any attention to, in the top 200! What's changed??!! Looking at his ranking history on the atp site he's never been anywhere near the top 200 until recently and he's 29! Some good wins I see too - Bautista Agut, Max Purcell.... I need to know more about him!!

GBJ wrote:

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What the heck?! I've not been following the Brits below about 200-300 much and am very sporadic so it totally shocked me to see Billy, who TBH I've never really paid any attention to, in the top 200! What's changed??!! Looking at his ranking history on the atp site he's never been anywhere near the top 200 until recently and he's 29! Some good wins I see too - Bautista Agut, Max Purcell.... I need to know more about him!!

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 I cant say in his game, but his surge happened really over the past 12 to 18 months. Played and played , close to 100 matches last year and picked his events well, pushing through ITF events and then past the summer of 23 played almost every week and took in a lot of challengers at the lower end. Winning bred winning and to me it looks like Billy just became tough to beat, must have a good tennis brain and mindset - you can guarantee he wont lose easily and unexpectedly, and wins some matches you dont expect. 

story of 2023 in many ways and many on here felt he was player of the season. 

From an article on the BBC website - when asked about the prize money ...

"It's definitely going to help - it's expensive getting around in this sport so any money you can get is a massive help. Will I treat myself? A new van, maybe, potentially. I drive a Mini Cooper at the moment. It's a bit tight, I get in and out of a van a bit easier."

It's impossible not to like this guy.

Madadman wrote:

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Just looking at Tennis Abstract at their Best players who havent section. With Billys new career high of 139 he is now second only to Harold Mayot(113) to not won an ATP or Challenger title.

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 So if Mayot had won Ilkley Saturday, Billy would have been top! 

Apologies if this has been posted somewhere else already. Lovely article about Billy.


www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jun/29/billy-harris-wimbledon-wildcard-van-tennis

Stircrazy wrote:

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Ralfie wrote:

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Apologies if this has been posted somewhere else already. Lovely article about Billy.


www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jun/29/billy-harris-wimbledon-wildcard-van-tennis

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Thanks for that.    Interesting to see Julian Cash described as a close friend.

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 They launched a coaching thing together back in 2020 called Tennis Technicians. Since then theyve both done pretty well so probably havent built that up as they were maybe thinking they would!