Isle of Man tennis player Billy Harris has been handed a wildcard entry into this year’s Wimbledon tournament.
The 29-year-old will line up alongside some of the world’s elite players next month when the prestigious competition gets underway at SW19’s All England Lawn Tennis Club on July 1.
Harris has previous played in the qualifying rounds of Wimbledon – and more recently the French Open a few weeks ago – but has yet to progress to the main draw.
Now though, the former Albany Lawn Tennis Club player and Island Games gold medalist will receive a wildcard entry into the tournament in the men’s singles and doubles alongside fellow Briton Liam Broady.
Wildcards are players whose world ranking is not high enough to qualify automatically for the Championships but who are accepted into the main draw at the discretion of the committee.
Harris is in a rich vein of form at the moment and is set to break into the top 150 of the world rankings thanks to a stunning win at the ATP Queen's Club Championships in London earlier this week.
Up against Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry, the Isle of Man player upset the world number 32 by winning the first set 6-4.
And, despite his higher-ranked opponent winning the second set 3-6, Harris rubberstamped his authority by claiming the third set 6-3 to clinch the biggest win of his career so far.
The victory was his first APT 500 win – the fourth highest tier in men’s tennis – and comes off the back of other fine performances such as reaching the semi-finals of both the Nottingham Open and Surbiton Trophy.
Harris will now face the winner of the match between number six seed Ben Shelton of America and French qualifier Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.