WIMBLEDON, London -- When Marcus Willis travelled to Philadelphia earlier this year he made sure to take in one of tourism's greatest rites of passage.
The 2-ton, 10-feet tall Rocky Balboa statue is located at the bottom of the 72 stone 'Rocky Steps' before the entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
It's not certain if Willis ran up them all, humming the Oscar-winning movie's theme tune and shouting 'Yo, Adrian! I did it!" But he did stop for a picture in front of the bronze statue, mimicking the famous pose of the character played by Sylvester Stallone.
He would never have thought he would have his arms aloft in the air in similar fashion a few months later on Centre Court at Wimbledon, after winning a game against Roger Federer.
The Marcus Willis story has seemed like something straight out of Hollywood; there was certainly a hint of Rocky when he took on the 17-time Grand Slam champion and seven-time Wimbledon winner.
Just like Balboa getting a title shot at heavyweight boxing champion Apollo Creed, it was David vs. Goliath in SW19, and there was no mystery to Federer why the world is drawn to sporting stories like this.
"Because we don't know him [Willis]," the Swiss told a press conference after his 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 victory under the roof. "He's made waves in our sport with a very low ranking to make it very far. It's not just that he got a wild card into qualifying and he's ranked 300, he comes from much further than that.
"Unfortunately, we don't have enough of those stories anymore. If a junior of 16 years old would also make a run like that, we would be talking about it similarly.
"We used to have those stories almost every Grand Slam say 10 years ago. It's not happening that much anymore because it's becoming mentally and physically maybe too gruelling. I'm not sure. I said a few days ago, this story is gold."
Ranked No.772, Willis got a lucky break and received a wild card into Wimbledon pre-qualifying, where he won three matches. He won three more at Roehampton last week to secure his All England Club debut.
In his first tour-level match, he beat world No.54 Ricardas Berankis on Monday to guarantee himself £50,000 and a match with Federer on Centre Court.
Willis took Tim Henman's advice on Wednesday afternoon and went out there early to soak up the atmosphere, watching Novak Djokovic's match against Adrian Mannarino.
When the time came for Federer to walk out of the locker room, Willis was already waiting there for him. The nerves must have got to him, suddenly, though, and he found the men's room.
"I didn't know if he wanted to go out first," said Federer. "I wanted the cooler experience for him, if it's walking ahead of me or behind me."
In the end it was Willis who led them out. "I thought it was cool that he got out first because it's his moment, in my opinion. I wanted him to have a great time."
The ovation for the 25-year-old from Slough was deafening as he walked out in his Nike 'RF' t-shirt and matching headband, dressed almost identically to his opponent. "I bought it [the shirt] for last year's Wimby, but I didn't play. A bit awkward," he said.
Girlfriend Jenny Bate, who convinced Willis to go after his Wimbledon dream when he was thinking of quitting, was there in the players' box on Wednesday, like Adrian at ringside for Rocky.
So too were Willis' parents, his sister, his cousin, and his brother -- who skipped school to come and watch. The school had contacted his mother to ask where his younger brother was -- "he's watching his brother play Federer on Centre Court" she replied.
It was all over after 85 minutes. Willis celebrated with a beer in the locker room -- "not a pint, it was a bottle, didn't get my money's worth there" -- drinking in not just the lager but what he had achieved in the last couple of weeks. It tasted "incredible".
"Not my standard Wednesday, that," he reflected. A week from now he will be back coaching children and pensioners alike for £30 an hour at the Warwick Boat Club, where until Monday he made most of his money.
"Next Wednesday might be quite different."