Lloyd Harris is a professional tennis player from South Africa. The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) has ranked him as high as World No. 31 in singles, which he achieved on September 13, 2021, making him the current African and South African No. 1 men's singles player. He reached a career-high doubles ranking of World No. 203 on March 18, 2019. Harris has three ATP Challenger singles and two Challenger doubles trophies, as well as 13 ITF singles and four ITF doubles titles.
Harris won his first ITF junior singles title in November 2012 at the G5 in Windhoek, Namibia. Harris represented South Africa at the Youth Olympic Games in August 2014. Harris was ranked No. 38 by the International Tennis Federation as a junior, with a singles win/loss record of 73–44. Harris went professional in 2015, finishing the year with a single ranking of 358. Harris primarily competed on the ITF Futures level in 2015 and 2016. Harris won his first ITF Futures singles title in Mozambique F2 in June 2015. In June 2015, Harris also won his first ITF Futures Doubles title.
Harris reached five ITF Futures Tour singles finals in 2015, winning four of them. Harris reached eight ITF Futures Tour finals in 2016, winning six of them. In 2017, he reached the semifinals of the Challenger Tour in Kyoto, Japan, and Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei, and qualified for his first ATP World Tour event in Antalya, Turkey.
Harris began the year by reaching four ITF Futures tour finals and winning three of them. He had a strong summer season on American hard courts, winning his first ATP Challenger title at the Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships. He qualified for his first main draw at a Grand Slam in August, at the 2018 US Open, via the qualifying rounds. Harris won his first ATP World Tour main draw match in September, defeating Gael Monfils 3–6, 6–2, 6–1 in the first round of the Chengdu Open (ATP 250 event) in China. Harris won his second ATP Challenger championship of the year on October 7, 2018, defeating Marc Polmans 6–2, 6–2 at the Stockton Challenger.
Harris qualified for his second Grand Slam main draw at the 2019 Australian Open in January. Harris climbed to World No. 100 in the ATP rankings on February 4, 2019, after winning the Launceston Tennis International. With a win over Lukas Rosol in May, he advanced to the second round of the 2019 French Open for the first time. Harris also made her maiden appearance in the main draw of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships and her second appearance in the 2019 US Open. He reached his first ATP 250 semifinal in September at the Chengdu Open in China.
Harris reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time at the Australian Open in February. Harris achieved his first ATP 500 final in March when he became the first qualifier to reach the semifinals of the 2021 Dubai Tennis Championships, defeating world No. 4 Dominic Thiem, Kei Nishikori, and world No. 12 Denis Shapovalov. He was defeated in straight sets by Aslan Karatsev. As a result of this impressive run, he rose to a career-high singles ranking of No. 52 in the world.
In August, Harris competed in Washington, where he stunned world no. 3 Rafael Nadal in three sets his route to the quarterfinals. As a result, he will reach the top 50 on August 9, 2021, at global No. 49. Harris advanced to the quarterfinals of a Major for the first time at the US Open, defeating 25th-seed Karen Khachanov, 7th-seed Denis Shapovalov (his 7th top-20 and 3rd top-10 win of the season), and 22nd-seed Reilly Opelka. He was defeated in straight sets by fourth seed Alexander Zverev. As a result, Harris has risen to the world's top 40.