For tennis player Billy Harris, it is all about the journey.
Harris on Tuesday lost in his Wimbledon debut, but he has won over some fans. That happens when your back story involves leaving home on the Isle of Man to live out of a van while playing tournaments around Europe.
Making his Grand Slam debut at the age of 29, Harris lost to Jaume Munar 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Great feeling at the start. Then obviously when you lose, it’s not quite the same,” Harris said in matter-of-fact fashion.
His paydays are not quite the same these days, either. Harris earned about US$76,000 for his first-round loss, and he is also playing doubles starting with Liam Broady.
Harris’ career prize money total beforehand was just more than US$400,000.
“Definitely, it took me a lot longer than most people to get here. It’s been a long journey,” Harris, who is at a career-high ranking of No. 116 and several years removed from living in the van, said at a news conference before the tournament started.
Earlier in his career, Harris spent more than three years driving his white Ford Transit van around Europe to save money while playing in lower-level tournaments.
Harris and his father built a wooden frame for a bed in the van.
“He told me the story,” Broady said. “He stopped off in Dover on the way to mainland Europe and picked up three months’ worth of canned tuna and Uncle Ben’s rice. That’s all he lived off for three months. There’s not many people who would have been willing to make the sacrifices Billy has.”
Luke Lacey cheered on his childhood friend as Harris won the third set to not leave empty-handed.
He said Harris has been “a huge inspiration for kids in the Isle of Man.”
The Isle of Man, with a population of 84,000, is in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and northwest England. Cyclist Mark Cavendish is from there.
“It was a lot of trips across on the boat to Liverpool,” Harris said of his earlier days. “There’s not so many players to train with on the Isle of Man.”
Harris ultimately moved on from van life in his early 20s after one particularly long stretch in Poland.
“My dad used it for a little bit after me, and then the engine blew up, so that was the end of it,” he said of the van’s fate.
The 1.93m Harris drives a Mini Cooper now.
Taiwan won a back-and-forth match at the Unions Cup in Singapore yesterday, but the hosts claimed the trophy due to a better points differential over the tournament. Singapore’s players celebrated with the cup, despite losing a match in which they seized the lead three times, but ultimately fell to a 19-16 defeat. Their points advantage was due to their strong opening game against the other team in the competition, Thailand, who they beat 30-8 on Saturday last week. Taiwan narrowly lost to Thailand on Tuesday and went into yesterday’s match facing a steep challenge. They responded well, opening the game with sustained pressure
An “outstanding” 17-year-old Chinese badminton player died of cardiac arrest after collapsing on court during a tournament in Indonesia, officials said yesterday. Zhang Zhijie was playing a match late Sunday against Japan’s Kazuma Kawano at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The score was 11-11 in the first game when Zhang fell to the floor between points. The teenager received treatment at the venue and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, but passed away later that night after repeated efforts to resuscitate him failed. “Medical conclusions ... indicated that the victim experienced sudden cardiac arrest,” Broto Happy, spokesman for
A buzz of excitement crackled through the hushed arena as the rider gripped the reins of her stuffed steed. Welcome to the strangely exacting world of hobby-horsing, the Finnish sport guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Immaculately coiffed equestrians leap athletically over fences just like in horse jumping, going as fast as they can against the clock straddling their stick steeds. Things are more stately in the dressage, with riders trotting their stick horses with intricately decorated stuffed heads before the discerning eyes of the judges. About 260 riders from 22 countries — most women and girls aged 10 to 20 —
Taiwan’s men’s national basketball team is set to upgrade its depth in the paint after signing Brandon Gilbeck of the P.League+’s Formosa Dreamers to a naturalized player’s contract. The 27-year-old big man from the US landed in Taoyuan early on Monday, where he was welcomed by Chinese Taipei Basketball Association deputy secretary-general Chang Cheng-chung. The two signed the deal, which still has to be approved by the Sports Administration and the Ministry of the Interior. Chang said he is confident that “the proceedings would go smoothly.” If approved, Gilbeck would become the third naturalized basketball player in Taiwan, following the New Taipei Kings’ Quincy