Harris happy to be healthy again

“I remember we went there for some preparations for the clay season and Carlos was only 15-years-old at the time,” Harris told rolandgarros.com, recalling practises with the RG 2024 winner.

“He was already playing mega, his forehand was so big. Obviously, his consistency wasn’t there yet. We knew straight away that this kid was going to be unbelievable, just from hitting with him.”

Men's singles draw Roland-Garros 2025

All the results from Day 4 of qualifying

On Thursday, Harris moved to one step away from the Roland-Garros 2025 main draw with a morale-boosting 6-4, 7-5 triumph over Otto Virtanen. What about landing Alcaraz in the main draw?

“I think I still had an edge back then, might be a bit harder now… I don’t need to play him here,” quipped Harris. “I’d be happy to play anybody else, Carlos on clay is like the new mini Rafa, he’s the best on clay. So I’d like to work my way towards that if that’s an option.

“It would be a good match. It’s always nice to play on big courts, big stadiums, that’s where I want to be playing.”

The former world No.31 has competed on all the grandest stages, highlighted by reaching the quarter-final at US Open 2021. However, wrist surgery in 2022 and back surgery in late 2024 derailed his progress.

Since returning to competitive tennis in February, the 28-year-old has struggled to rediscover his top form with a 1-7 match record across all levels prior to heading to Paris.

“It’s been tough, but for me it’s all about being healthy. Every match I get being injury free is a mega win for me. I’ve found myself enjoying these last two matches, playing the brand of tennis I want to play. I truly felt like myself out there,” he said.

“Hopefully we can get through another one, but the most important win is staying healthy.”

Harris would be forgiven for feeling despondent. Instead the world No.226 flips the script and is determined to look forward.

“What’s kept me positive is having a good team around – family, friends, girlfriend – everyone has been saying how much they believe in me. Even when you doubt it, you hear it from them and ‘Ok, maybe I can make another big push.’ But it’s all got to come from within,” he insisted.

“I thought last year I was getting the 2.0 of Lloyd Harris, I had to go do another surgery, that was pretty harsh.

“You’ve got to rebound, got to fight for it, got to do everything again to start from zero.

“This is only the beginning, it’s the first true week that I’m playing some decent tennis, feeling good, so I’m very pleased. Hopefully we can come back to version 3.0 of Lloyd Harris, there’s a long journey to go, but I’m excited to be on the path finally.”

There’s a box office battle for the main draw ticket in store when Harris meets former world No.3 Marin Cilic on Friday.

“Not a bad player, Marin,” said a tongue-in-cheek Harris ahead of their first meeting. “Twenty-one titles, Grand Slam champion, not bad credentials. You definitely wouldn’t expect to be playing him here in qualifying.

“It’s exciting! Harris added. "I know it’s going to be an extremely difficult one, but I’ve been playing well and I’ll just stick to what I’ve been doing. Hopefully we can have an incredible battle and I can pull through.”

Earlier on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, Cilic secured his third round spot with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Pol Martin Tiffon.

Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas is into the main draw with his 6-2, 6-1 victory over Andrea Collarini.

And French flags were flying high as home hope Ugo Blanchet defeated Cristian Garin 7-6(5), 7-6(5) and world No.311 Clement Tabur dominated his match against Dan Evans 6-1, 6-3 to extend their qualifying campaigns.