Marcus Willis and a very All Court kind of Australian Open story.

Friend of All Court and pro mentor, Marcus Willis is quietly cranking a comeback at the Australian Open with his Swiss doubles partner, J-Paul.

I first met Marcus in Dubai back in 2021 when All Court ran a small doubles event. At the time, he was in one of those in-between phases — thinking about life, tennis, and whether a return to the pro tour really made sense.

He turned up anyway and promptly aced the entire field. Admittedly, the field was mostly made up of enthusiastic amateurs (myself included), but the message was clear: the level was still very much there.

Since then, we’ve stayed in touch. As a pro mentor with All Court, Marcus has always brought sharp insights to my own game — thoughtful, honest, and never pretending the journey is linear or glamorous.

This week, we’ve been following his Australian Open run from close quarters, having our man with a cam on the ground document pre-match rituals, practice courts, the quiet moments before the noise. An opening round win has now set up a second-round clash, hopefully on a show court, against two Aussies - Jason Kubler (who won the AO men’s doubles championship in 2023) and Marc Polmans, who just defeated the tattooed-centric, media-shy two K’s (Kyrgios and Kokkinakis).

We dropped Marcus a message. This is what he had to say:

Let’s get down to the serious stuff first. How’s your surfing skills and have you checked out Bells Beach like the late great Patrick Swayze in “Point Break”?

Would you have preferred to play one of the Aussie duos over the other?

Your next match is on the weekend (Sat) against two Aussies so could draw a big, home supportive crowd. Do you prefer that or less “noise”?

What do people watching on TV never understand about matches like this?

Good luck Marcus and Jakub. It might be the first time, as a proud Aussie, I’m rooting for an Englishman. I say that with the cricketing Ashes safely in the bag, so I’m more than cool with that.