A1  Pharmaceuticals agree sponsorship of their dedicated NO2  Neill Paufley 

 

Neil Pauffleys support of A1 Pharmaceuticals for two successive seasons has been rewarded with a sponsorship agreement for 12 months when the plan is to play a record number of pro singles tournaments and pair regularly with other A1 Aegon players. A1 Pharmaceuticals inspired by Marcus's previous success during his sponsorship are looking to achieve a new singles ATP ranking with the Berkshire No2 by year end 2017. 

 

Marcus Willis returns  to A1  Pharmaceuticals No1 spot for the crucial national Aegon qualifier away to Edgbaston priory on Saturday 16/07/2016 

 

A new personal best of 50 ATP ranking points will push current No1 Neil Pauffley into the No2 spot for the vital A1 Pharmaceuticals National Aegon qualification match away to Midland hopefuls Edgbaston Priory on 16/07/2016. Spectators are welcome with admission free. A1 Pharmaceuticals selection :

No1 Marcus Willis

No2 Neil Pauffley

No3 Toby Martin

No4 Peter Bothwell

No5 Sam Bothwell or Matthew Short

 

A1 Pharmaceuticals LTC No1 Marcus Willis reached the heights of his career playing the greatest of all time Roger Federer on centre court  Wimbledon  ( 29/06/2016 )

 

Marcus Willis has done amazingly well to reach second round of Wimbledon doing it the hard way going through six qualifying matches. This weeks inspirational run ended on centre court at Wimbledon this evening against arguably the greatest tennis player of all time, Roger Federer. The final score 6 -0 6-3 6-4 does not fully reflect the huge effort  by the Berkshire and A1 No1 Marcus Willis.

 

Understandably in the first set Marcus was nervous and slightly rushed the points. In the 2nd and 3rd set the A1 No1 settled down and made the master work much harder demonstrating the huge serve and aces that have earned him the nick name "Will Bomb".

 

Surely the £50,000 Wimbledon prize money carefully invested in coaching and increased travel to tournaments will give the A1 No1 the platform he needs to surpass his PB ATP singles world ranking which he achieved during his two years sponsorship and management by A1 Pharmaceuticals founder Pharmacist Gary Lewis. 

 

Marcus can be seen in action for A1 Pharmaceuticals LTC away to Edgbaston Priory on 17/07/2016 (start time 12.00) in the National Aegon finals play off match in the National team champions bid to win an historic 3rd National title at the Aegon National finals 2-4 /09/2016 at the beautiful West Hants Club, Roselyn Road, South Bournemouth, BH3  7EF admission for spectatotors is free throughout the tournament. Come along and see Will Bomb and his team mates ATP pros Neil Pauffley, Toby Martin  and Peter Bothwell in their bid to make Aegon National club league history. 

 

 

A1 Pharmaceuticals LTC No 1 Marcus Willis earns fairytale showdown with Roger Federer at Wimbledon as dream comes true (27/06/2016)

 

WIMBLEDON outsider Marcus Willis landed himself a fairytale meeting with Roger Federer on Wednesday after the biggest win of his career on Monday.

 

Marcus Willis the current A1 Pharmaceuticals LTC No1 recieved funding and management from November 2012 to spring 2015 from A1 Pharmaceuticals Plc.

 

Willis, whose season’s earnings totalled £213 from a Tunisian Futures Tour event, guaranteed himself a £50,000 payday after saving 19 out of 20 break points in beating Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis in straight sets.

 

“It’s an amazing dream come true. I get to play on a stadium court and I’m going to go out there and try to win the tennis match.

 

"I probably won’t – he’s a little bit better than me – but I’m going to give everything. I’m not sure he can play on grass!”

 

It will the first meeting with Federer for the 25-year-old, who supplements his income by giving tennis lessons at Warwick Boat Club and still lives with his parents in Wokingham.

 

“I’ve never even spoken to him. I don’t think he was at Tunisia this year!” said Willis, still star-struck from shaking hands with his hero Goran Ivanisevic. 

 

Willis’s girlfriend Jennifer Bate, a dentist in Warwick, was able to share in his glory after fate leant a hand.

 

“I went in this morning ready for the day ready to see my patients. Then they told me that the suction machine was not working so my boss said cancel all your appointments,” she said.

 

“At the end Marcus just came over, kissed me and said, 'I love you.'" 

 

There was one other notable success for the Brits yesterday, with Dan Evans beating German Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 7-5.

 

Marcus WINS Championship in Spain on return to ITF Futures. (02/05/2015 Spain F11 Futures )

 

This was a match worthy of a final for both quality and drama. I am not sure exactly where to begin but perhaps I should start by saying that if Hernando’s ranking of 694 is genuine, then I’m a teapot. He played far far better than that ranking would suggest and let’s not forget his win yesterday. Jose Checa was ranked 230 just 12 months ago and is seriously under-ranked now and yet Hernando bullied him off court yesterday in straight sets with a string of winners.

 

The weather was much warmer today which was good news from the perspective of Marcus’ back which didn’t seem to trouble him at all. The first set was a serve fest for up until 5-5. Both players served their socks off. When they did get into rallies, Hernando was solid of the backhand and at times devastating off the forehand wing. Marcus, was … well …. Marcus, mixing the pace up well, working the angles and throwing in some devastating dropshot winners. Very little to choose between them in effectiveness even if the styles were poles apart.

 

In their last service games in that set though, both faced adversity. Hernandes was 0-30, while Marcus was 15-40 facing two SPs. Both players dug themselves out with a string of big serves. Into a tiebreak. I have to admit, my mind is a blur on this and both players had multiple SPs. I remember Marcus saving one with a running forehand down the line pass. But in the end it was a booming Hernando forehand winner that sealed the breaker 16-14.

 

At the start of the 2nd set, Hernando allowed his level to drop just a fraction and Marcus pounced. On the Hernando serve, Marcus drew him in with a couple of low slices, and as Hernando tried to counter with a chip and charge, Marcus caressed a couple of forehand winners down the line against the onrushing opponent. Marcus didn’t drill them but whipped them down the line, bending the ball back inside the line. It was enough to get Marcus the early break and despite a couple of scares, he served out the rest of the set at 6-3 to level the match at one set all. But the drama was only just beginning.

 

Hernando opened the final set by serving 4 aces in 1 game to lead 1-0*. More holds followed as we moved to 2-2. In the next game Marcus forced a BP at ad-out. Defending like a terrier, he was forced to throw up the lob. A big smash to the forehand side was retrieved with another lob, the next smash to the backhand side had Marcus scampering and at full stretch, but somehow he retrieved it again dropping it right in the backhand corner. Hernando chased it down but after another couple of strokes, he put a forehand in the net. There was a loud VAMOS from Marcus, drowned out only by an even louder one from a rather excitable “expattennisfan” (who shall remain nameless) sitting on the sideline.

 

At this point however, Marcus played his one bad game of the match. Having broken to go *3-2 up, he threw in a DF and missed a couple of volleys and we were back at 3-3. More holds followed until eventually Marcus found himself serving at *5-6. His serve slightly deserted him at first but he fought back from 0-30 to 30-30 but then had to face MP at 30-40. Finally a first serve bomb from Marcus, but the return from Hernando was even harder and down the backhand side. I thought it was over. For just a split second I thought Marcus had given up as the ball was flashing past him. But somehow, he flicked a backhand “squash” style from what must have been a foot behind him and got the ball back. Hernando thought he had already won the point and the match, so when the ball came back, he was so shocked he dumped his forehand into the net from mid-court. Marcus then served out and squeaky culo time was on the menu.

 

Marcus made an excellent start to the TB, and turned around 4-2 up. He served and volleyed on the next point and hit his best volley (and there were plenty of good ones) of the match with the ball skidding off the line at the junction of side and base lines on the backhand side. The line judge, 2m away put her palms to the floor, but the umpire, from the far side of the court, over-ruled the decision and called it out. Have to say at this point that overall the umpire had a really good match today, but this was a shocker and even Hernando knew it. Credit to Marcus though as he kept his focus and moved 6-4 ahead. Hernando was not finished though and fought back to have MP again at 7-6. Finally however, with Marcus leading 9-8, he spotted another chip and charge, but this time out-foxed his opponent by going cross court with a forehand passing shot to take the match.

 

Marcus slumped firstly to his knees and then ended up face down on the court. He was out for the count. Six months ago, he would have lost this match for fitness reasons, but his movement today was great, specifically rushing forwards to pick up the drop shots.

 

Overall, this was a final that NEITHER player deserved to lose. I am just glad it came out the right way and that I had the pleasure of being there to watch Marcus pick up the trophy. And boy did he deserve it.

 

Of course I was grateful he won for another reason. I wasn’t looking forward to the trip to the airport and trying to make conversation had he lost. But in the end, we were both on a high all the way there and as you can probably tell from my match report, I STILL AM.

 

Get in there WillBomb. Top job today buddy. Proud of ya.