In the movie Challengers, the character of Patrick Zweig is forced to live out of a car and sleep in the parking lots of tennis clubs as he struggles to make a living as a professional while playing lower-lever tournaments.
For Billy Harris, that is what his early 20s looked like, when he plied his trade on the ITF circuit, the lowest-level of men’s professional tennis. “I had a bed in the back of my van with my stringer machine for my racquets and cooked all my meals by the side of the tennis clubs on the road,” said the 30-year-old on the sidelines of the Chennai Open ATP Challenger.
Billy comes from a sporting family from the Isle of Man, a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the middle of the Irish Sea which has a population of less than one lakh. His brothers Joe and Tom compete in javelin throw and golf, respectively. While Tom made it to the England U-21 team at one point, Joe went as far as representing the Isle of Man at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 — where India’s Neeraj Chopra clinched gold — and 2022.
Billy found his calling in tennis. “We lived near the tennis clubs. In the mornings and nights, we used to bike around and play tennis on most days. That’s how I started playing with my brothers,” remembered Harris.
Harris started training under Ian Watson at the Albany Tennis Club. At 12, he moved to Bisham Abbey in England for two years to train with the best players of his age.
But he wasn’t a promising junior. He could only go as high as No. 139 in the ITF Junior Rankings and played only at one junior Grand Slam — Wimbledon, in 2013, where he lost in the round of 32.
As he turned professional, he was forced to save money by travelling to ITF tournaments around Europe in a van. “If you make it to the main draw, that’s enough to get to the next tournament,” said Harris.
He did not win his first ITF title until 2021, when he turned 26. And he admits that the grind was really hard. “Everyone gets frustrated when they have bad weeks. When you’re travelling on your own, it’s sometimes a bit lonely. And when you have a bad week, you just need to keep going on to the next one,” said Harris.
Things started getting better for the Brit when he became a regular on the ATP Challenger Tour, the second-tier of men’s tennis, and no longer needed to travel in a van. He also has a sponsor in Arlo & Jacob, a furniture brand owned by his friend Mark Smith.
Harris had his breakout season in 2024 when he reached the semifinals of an ATP 250 event in Eastbourne. He made his Grand Slam main draw debut as a wildcard at Wimbledon. In September, when he reached a career-high ranking of 101, he also made his Davis Cup debut in a 2-1 win over Finland in the Group Stage.
“Last year was a great year for me. I went up the rankings and reached a new career-high. And yes, just trying to make the most of the opportunities playing for my country in the Davis Cup. It is a great honour. Experiences like these are why I’m playing,” said Harris.
Harris, however, is still without a permanent coach. Even his dad Geoff, who travels with him as a coach, could not make it to Chennai due to visa issues.
It is the first Challenger tournament of his career where he is the top seed, and like his favourite Premier League club Nottingham Forest, which, to everyone’s surprise, sits in the top four after 24 games, Harris will hope to continue his upward trajectory and clinch his maiden title.
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