British wildcard Felix Gill will make his Wimbledon singles debut on Monday against No. 23 seed Rafael Jodar, aiming for a major upset after a family tragedy. The 24-year-old from Redditch has spoken openly about his parents' battles with cancer, which shaped his journey to the All England Club.
Family health struggles
Both of Gill's parents were diagnosed with cancer a few years ago. His mother, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with leukaemia, followed a year later by his father, Matthew, who had blood cancer. Matthew Gill passed away in May 2022, just weeks before Felix made his doubles debut at Wimbledon.
“My mum and dad were ill at the same time, so my mum had leukaemia. They were a year apart of when they were diagnosed, so there was a lot of trips to the QE in Birmingham during those times,” Gill told the press. He credited friends and family for supporting him: “Looking back is amazing how difficult it was and that I was able to be okay during those times and loads of help from friends, family friends, uncles, just to drive me to the tennis club and 40 minutes away in Coventry or Birmingham. So yeah, no loads of help from those guys and yeah, I can't thank everyone around me who has helped [enough]. My mum's okay now, yeah. She's been okay for the last four or five years, she's a trooper.”
Father's legacy
Gill's father, a former chairman of Redditch Tennis Club, was a key influence. He watched Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer in the 2014 Wimbledon final with Felix after winning Centre Court tickets in the ballot. Matthew also attended the boys' singles event seven years ago. Felix believes his father would be “over the moon” about his main-draw wildcard. “He always wanted his children to be better than him, so… I don't know, but he'd be so happy,” Gill said.
After his father's death, Gill moved to Spain to train at GTennis in the Valencia region. “I headed off to Spain, down in the Valencia region, just to pursue a different training style and see what they had to offer because the Spanish churn out so many players over the years. So we thought that would suit my game. I really enjoyed my time out there,” he explained.
Opponent: Rafael Jodar
Gill, currently ranked world No. 220, faces 19-year-old Spaniard Rafael Jodar, the No. 23 seed. Jodar has had a breakthrough clay season, going 19-4 in matches, including winning the Marrakech title, reaching the French Open semi-finals, and making two Masters 1000 quarter-finals. Gill has followed Jodar's career: “We were at a few tournaments together, then he went off to college, so I didn't see him for a bit, and obviously he’s been smashing the tour. During his college career, he was winning Challengers and Futures, so you always kind of kept an eye on him on those tours, but to break through the ATP Tour like he did – not many people have done that really.”
Grass advantage
Despite Jodar's success, he has never played a tour-level match on grass and withdrew from recent events at Queen's and Eastbourne. Gill, who recently reached the second round of the Birmingham and Nottingham Challengers, will have strong support from family and friends on Court 3. He hopes to use his grass-court experience to cause an upset.
