World number 775 Willis grabs place at Wimbledon

Andy and Jamie Murray both congratulated their compatriot on social media after he came from a set down to beat Daniil Medvedev 3-6 7-5 6-3 6-4 to secure his place in the main draw at SW19.

Andy, the world number two, wrote on Facebook: "Well done Marcus Willis aka Willbomb on qualifying for Wimbledon! Marcus had pretty much retired from tennis and only played one pro event this [year] and had been coaching until last week. Ranked 770 in the world he entered the Pre qualifying for Wimbledon and has just won 6 matches in a row to make it through to the main draw! Awesome feel good story for British Tennis! Well done Willbomb - dreams do come true sometimes."

More practically, playing in the first tour-level event of his career has guaranteed him prize money of at least £30,000.

"It’s certainly the biggest payday I have ever had," he admitted to reporters. "It’s financially great. I can pay off a couple of credit cards now that I used to finance my tennis. That is great but I’m not here for the money. I love tennis and competing."