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Chris Wilkinson

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Chris Wilkinson
Wilkinson in 2019
Country (sports)United Kingdom Great Britain
ResidenceRowland's Castle, Hampshire, England
Born (1970-01-05) 5 January 1970 (age 54)
Southampton, Hampshire, England
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro1989
Retired1999
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money$631,641
Singles
Career record28–52
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 114 (13 September 1993)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open1R (1994)
French OpenQ1 (1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999)
Wimbledon3R (1993, 1994, 1995, 1998)
US OpenQ2 (1996)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games1R (1992)
Doubles
Career record19–38
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 86 (16 February 1998)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open1R (1998)
French Open2R (1998)
WimbledonQF (1993)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Wimbledon2R (1993, 1998)
Last updated on: 6 February 2022.

Christopher Wilkinson (born 5 January 1970) is a former tennis player from England.

Career

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Born and bred in Southampton, Chris Wilkinson has achieved much in the world of tennis. But it could have been very different as his first passion was football in which he excelled for Southampton and had trials for Aston Villa and Coventry. Wilkinson started his winning ways with tennis tournament success as a 10-year-old junior. From there Wilkinson went on to win national and overseas tournaments and represented Great Britain in the World Championships at all junior age groups.

On the main Tour Wilkinson played some of his best tennis at Wimbledon where he reached the 3rd round in Singles on four occasions and made the quarter finals of Doubles. Wilkinson had the privilege of playing on Centre and No. 1 court on many occasions. He will probably be best remembered for his Centre Court battle in 1993 against Stefan Edberg, in which he broke the champion's serve no less than seven times before faltering on his own and succumbing to defeat in three close sets.[1] His best win was over Goran Ivanišević in 1993 at Queen's. Wilkinson has recorded many notable wins over several top 20 world ranked players. Wimbledon continues to be a special place for the former British No. 1 and he is regularly invited to compete in the Gentleman's senior invitational event.

In 1993 Wilkinson achieved his ambition of becoming British No. 1 Singles player. He represented Great Britain in the Davis Cup and the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Wilkinson retired from the main tour in 1999 but kept up his competitive play in the following years and in 2005 became the British and world over-35 champion.

Wilkinson is still very much involved with the sport, working with the LTA as a National Performance Coach/captain for the 12 to 16-year-old boys. In February 2018, he was appointed as County Performance Manager for Hampshire and Isle of Wight LTA.[2]

Wilkinson also remains very busy in the media world, including TV commentating for Eurosport, ATP media and ITV4. He also has a regular column with ESPN.[3]

As for playing tennis, Wilkinson is regularly invited to exhibition events where he often plays with some of the all-time greats of the tennis world.

Wilkinson currently resides in Hampshire with his wife Amanda and their two daughters, Alice born in 1998 and Emily born in 2001.

In 1984 he featured in an advert shown in the UK and Ireland for Bisto gravy.

ATP career finals

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Doubles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

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Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–0)
ATP Championship Series (0–0)
ATP World Series (0–2)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–1)
Carpet (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (0–2)
Indoors (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Jun 1997 Nottingham, United Kingdom World Series Grass United Kingdom Danny Sapsford South Africa Ellis Ferreira
United States Patrick Galbraith
6–4, 6–7, 6–7
Loss 0–2 Sep 1997 Bournemouth, United Kingdom World Series Clay Spain Alberto Martín United States Kent Kinnear
North Macedonia Aleksandar Kitinov
6–7, 2–6

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

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Singles: 8 (3–5)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (3–5)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–3)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (2–1)
Carpet (0–1)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Nov 1992 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Challenger Hard The Bahamas Roger Smith 6–3, 6–1
Loss 1–1 Aug 1993 Bronx, United States Challenger Hard France Jean-Philippe Fleurian 6–3, 5–7, 2–6
Loss 1–2 Sep 1994 Singapore, Singapore Challenger Hard United States Tommy Ho 3–6, 4–6
Loss 1–3 Feb 1995 Hambühren, Germany Challenger Carpet Slovakia Ján Krošlák 6–7, 3–6
Win 2–3 Jul 1995 Manchester, United Kingdom Challenger Grass Germany Christian Saceanu 6–4, 6–4
Loss 2–4 Oct 1995 Charleroi, Belgium Challenger Hard Spain Juan-Luis Rascon-Lope 7–6, 3–6, 6–7
Win 3–4 Jul 1998 Manchester, United Kingdom Challenger Grass Italy Stefano Pescosolido 6–3, 6–4
Loss 3–5 Jul 1999 Bristol, United Kingdom Challenger Grass Netherlands Raemon Sluiter 3–6, 7–6, 6–7

Doubles: 15 (7–8)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (7–7)
ITF Futures (0–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (5–3)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (2–4)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Cancelled 0–0 Jul 1993 Bristol, United Kingdom Challenger Grass United Kingdom Paul Hand United Kingdom Jeremy Bates
United Kingdom Mark Petchey
6–7, 6–4, abandoned
Win 1–0 Oct 1993 Gothenburg, Sweden Challenger Hard United Kingdom Jeremy Bates United Kingdom Andrew Foster
United Kingdom Ross Matheson
7–6, 6–3
Win 2–0 Sep 1994 Azores, Portugal Challenger Hard United Kingdom Danny Sapsford Portugal Emanuel Couto
Israel Eyal Ran
7–5, 6–1
Win 3–0 Oct 1994 Dublin, Ireland Challenger Carpet United Kingdom Danny Sapsford Germany Arne Thoms
Netherlands Fernon Wibier
7–6, 2–6, 6–3
Loss 3–1 Feb 1995 Hambühren, Germany Challenger Carpet Australia Brent Larkham United States Bret Garnett
United States T. J. Middleton
2–6, 0–3 ret.
Loss 3–2 Sep 1995 Azores, Portugal Challenger Hard Portugal Nuno Marques United Kingdom Tim Henman
Germany Christian Saceanu
2–6, 2–6
Win 4–2 Sep 1995 Singapore, Singapore Challenger Hard Germany Martin Zumpft Italy Nicola Bruno
Italy Mosé Navarra
4–6, 6–1, 6–4
Loss 4–3 Aug 1996 Bronx, United States Challenger Hard South Africa Chris Haggard United States David Di Lucia
United States Scott Humphries
4–6, 1–6
Loss 4–4 Feb 1997 Lübeck, Germany Challenger Carpet United States Trey Phillips Germany Mathias Huning
Netherlands Joost Winnink
6–7, 6–7
Win 5–4 Mar 1997 Magdeburg, Germany Challenger Carpet United States Trey Phillips Czech Republic Tomas Anzari
Czech Republic Petr Luxa
6–3, 6–4
Win 6–4 Nov 1997 Portorož, Slovenia Challenger Hard United Kingdom Danny Sapsford Croatia Saša Hiršzon
Austria Udo Plamberger
6–0, 3–6, 6–3
Loss 6–5 Mar 1998 Magdeburg, Germany Challenger Carpet South Africa Marcos Ondruska Israel Eyal Erlich
Italy Mosé Navarra
6–4, 1–6, 4–6
Loss 6–6 Aug 1998 Istanbul, Turkey Challenger Hard Australia Todd Larkham Israel Eyal Ran
Czech Republic Petr Luxa
4–6, 6–7
Loss 6–7 Sep 1998 Edinburgh, United Kingdom Challenger Clay South Africa Marcos Ondruska Netherlands Peter Wessels
Netherlands Edwin Kempes
7–6, 3–6, 2–6
Win 7–7 Oct 1998 Olbia, Italy Challenger Hard Australia Todd Larkham Japan Thomas Shimada
Switzerland Filippo Veglio
3–6, 6–3, 7–6
Loss 7–8 Apr 1999 France F3, Melun Futures Carpet United Kingdom Tom Spinks North Macedonia Aleksandar Kitinov
Austria Gerald Mandl
3–6, 2–6

Performance timelines

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

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Tournament 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A A A 1R A A A Q1 A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
French Open A A A A A Q1 A A Q1 Q1 Q1 Q1 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Wimbledon Q2 A Q3 1R 2R 3R 3R 3R 2R 2R 3R 1R 0 / 9 11–9 55%
US Open A A A A A Q1 A Q1 Q2 A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 1–1 2–1 2–2 2–1 1–1 1–1 2–1 0–1 0 / 10 11–10 52%
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics A Not Held 1R Not Held A Not Held 0 / 1 0–1 0%
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Miami A A A A A A 1R A 1R A Q1 A 0 / 2 0–2 0%
Canada A A A A A 1R A A A A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Cincinnati A A A A A Q2 A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Stuttgart A A A A A A A A Q2 A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–1 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 3 0–3 0%

Doubles

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Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A A A A A 1R A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
French Open A A A A A A A A 2R A 0 / 1 1–1 50%
Wimbledon 1R 1R 1R QF 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R 1R 0 / 10 4–10 29%
US Open A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Win–loss 0–1 0–1 0–1 3–1 0–1 0–1 1–1 0–1 1–3 0–1 0 / 12 5–12 29%
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics NH 1R Not Held A Not Held 0 / 1 0–1 0%
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Canada A A A 2R A A A A A A 0 / 1 1–1 50%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 1 1–1 50%
  1. ^ "UK: Edberg ends Wilkinson hopes at Wimbledon". Reuters. 26 June 1993.
  2. ^ "County Performance Manager – Chris Wilkinson – LTA". www3.lta.org.uk. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  3. ^ "Chris Wilkinson: Memories of SW19". ESPN.co.uk. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
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