Harris 'driving' towards his destiny

Bengaluru: Billy Harris has his own way of doing things and that draws both amazement and amusement. The 30-year-old Brit, though, prefers to downplay the whole caboodle of his journey so far.   

Harris’ drives across Europe in a Ford Transit van to compete in the ITF Futures tournaments for nearly four years during his early days as a young pro, is one of them. However, the nonchalant reaction of the Nottingham-born pro almost dilutes the awe of the listener. 

“I had a van for 3-4 years. There was just a bed in the back, a stringing machine and a little cooker that I would take outside to cook,” reminisces Harris. 

“Yes, I drove alone and a lot of the time I parked in the club car park or anywhere in the city centre. The prize money in the (ITF) Futures is not very high so it allowed me to play a lot of tournaments. It was definitely a cheaper option to do it like that,” says the World No. 110. 

Mostly travelling across France, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Poland and Portugal, Harris broke into ATP ranking list for the first time in August 2015 at 1868 to climb up to his best of 609 in October 2018 during the period he was on road until 2019. 

While taking the route less traveled to earn points in order to save money must have been exhilarating, lessons learnt off the court have been enriching.

“I’m still travelling every week like every other player. But (I have) probably been more on my own than most people on Tour. The lesson is to keep going week to week and not give up,” offers Harris. 

Here at the Bengaluru Open too, the Brit had to take a roundabout way to enter the quarterfinal. After making a last-minute decision to play his fourth event here in India, the Delhi ATP Challenger runner-up got into the qualifying round as an alternate where he lost in the second round. But the withdrawal of Canada’s Alexis Galarneau from the main draw gave Harris a lucky loser's spot.  

It was an opportunity Harris would make the most of. On Wednesday, he scored a straight-set 6-4, 6-3 win over Czech Republic’s Marek Gengel in their round-of-16 clash. 

Going deep into the week is now on the Roger Federer fan’s mind in order to fulfil his goal of breaking into the Top-100. Harris came close to it last year, reaching his highest ranking of 101 in September when he also represented his country for the first time at the Davis Cup.

“Now I’m playing bigger tournaments in nicer places. Nothing really has changed since those days in my van. 

“But the good thing was I could drive off wherever I wanted to. I have probably seen more than most players because I had my wheels,” points out the resident of Isle of Man.  

Results: Singles: Second round (prefix denotes seedings): James McCabe (Aus) bt Rio Noguchi 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (5); Nicolas Mejia (Col) bt Blake Ellis (Aus) 6-1, 7-5; Billy Harris (GBR) bt Marek Gengel (Cze) 6-4, 6-3; 2-Tristan Schoolkate (Aus) bt Jurij Rodionov (Aut) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.