Marcus Ellis

Marcus Ellis, the youngest son of Sheila and John Ellis, was born on 14 September 1989 in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.^[3] He has an elder brother James. Ellis started playing badminton aged seven when his father took him to the Colne Valley Leisure Centre in Slaithwaite.^[4]

Ellis was first educated at Clough Head Junior School in Huddersfield, before attending Colne Valley High School, a state comprehensive school in the village of Linthwaite.^[5] He attended high school with Alex Smithies, now the goalkeeper for Huddersfield Town Football Club.^[1] He then studied for 6 months at Huddersfield New College before deciding to move away from Huddersfield at the age of 17 so he may train at the National Badminton Centre in Milton Keynes.^[4]

Ellis lived in St Albans.^[6]

In the early years of his professional career, Ellis teamed up with a number of players in the doubles, such as Tom Wolfenden and Peter Mills in the men's doubles, and Gabby Adcock and Mariana Agathangelou in the mixed.^[7] He won the men's doubles at the Denmark International in 2013 with Paul van Rietvelde.^[8]

In September 2014, he teamed up with Chris Langridge. They won their first men's doubles title in December 2014 in the Italian Open,^[9] and their first title in the English National Badminton Championships in February 2015, which they won again in 2016. They also won the Welsh International in 2015.^[10] They were defeated in the 2016 European Championships in La Roche-sur-Yon in the semi-finals to gain a bronze.^[11] They have also won medals in the European Team Championships – a silver in the Mixed Team in 2015,^[12] and a bronze medal in the Men's Team in 2016.^[13]

During the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Ellis and Langridge were ranked No. 22 in the world, but they managed to win a bronze, the first medal in badminton men's doubles won by a British team at the Olympics.^[14]

In 2017, he won his first Grand Prix tournament title at the Dutch Open in the mixed doubles event with Lauren Smith.^[15]

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games held on the Gold Coast, Australia, Ellis captured three medals – he won a gold in the men's doubles with Chris Langridge, which is England's first men's badminton double title at the Games in 40 years;^[16] a silver in the mixed doubles with Lauren Smith; and also a bronze in the mixed team event.^[17][18][19] At the 2018 European Championships held in Huelva, Spain, he finished in the semi-final, and settled for a bronze medal in the mixed doubles event with Smith after lose a match to Danish pair Mathias Christiansen and Christinna Pedersen in the rubber games.^[20]

Ellis qualified to represent Great Britain at the 2019 European Games, played in the men's doubles with Chris Langridge and in the mixed doubles with Lauren Smith. Competed as the second seeds in the men's and mixed doubles event, he reached the finals in both events.^[21] In the men's doubles, Ellis and Langridge managed to claim the gold medal after beat the top seeds from Denmark Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in straight games 21–17, 21–10.^[22] He secured his second gold in the mixed doubles with Smith after beat their teammates the top seeds Chris Adcock and Gabby Adcock with the score 21–14, 21–9.^[23]

Ellis opened the 2020 season by achieved his biggest triumph as in just his second tournament of the season, he won his first Super 300 event in Thailand Masters partnered with Lauren Smith.^[24] He and Smith then reached in to the quarter-finals of Spain Masters and semi finals of All England Open. In October, Ellis and Chris Langridge won the men's doubles title at the 2020 Denmark Open, became the first English men's doubles pair in 45 years to win the Denmark Open.^[25]

Ellis competed at the 2021 European Championships in Kyiv, Ukraine, and won a silver medal in the mixed doubles with Smith and a bronze in the men's doubles with Langridge.^[26] In July, he and Smith played at the 2020 Summer Olympics, but was eliminated in the quarter-finals.^[27]

In 2022, Ellis competed at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England as mixed doubles second seed with his partner Lauren Smith. They progressed to the final, but lost to third seeded from Singapore Terry Hee and Jessica Tan, settled for the silver medal.^[28] After the Commonwealth Games, Ellis had to withdraw for the next tournament due to a hip injury and planned surgery.^[29]