Tim Wilkison (born November 23, 1959) is a former professional tennis player from the United States.
Tennis career Wilkison was the No. 1 ranked junior in the United States and played on the tour for over 25 years. He prepped at McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee before turning pro immediately after high school. The left-hander won six singles titles, ten doubles championships, and reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 23 in September 1986. Wilkison is perhaps best known for his diving volleys at Wimbledon that earned him the nickname "Dr. Dirt".
In his playing career, Wilkison had victories over Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Roscoe Tanner, Guillermo Vilas, Yannick Noah, Boris Becker, Jim Courier, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, and Pete Sampras.
His best Grand Slam singles result came at the 1986 US Open, where he reached the quarterfinals by defeating Horst Skoff, Paul McNamee, Yannick Noah and Andrei Chesnokov, before losing to Stefan Edberg in straight sets. Wilkison has stated that his preferred surface is clay.
His eldest son, MacLane, played college tennis at UNC.
Career finals Singles: 15 (6 titles / 9 runner-ups) ResultW-L DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss 0–1 Jan 1977 Auckland, New Zealand Grass Vijay Amritraj 6–7, 7–5, 1–6, 2–6Win 1–1 Dec 1978 Sydney Outdoor, Australia Grass Kim Warwick 6–3, 6–3, 6–7(3–7), 3–6, 6–2Win 2–1 Jan 1979 Auckland, New Zealand Hard Peter Feigl 6–3, 4–6, 6–4, 2–6, 6–2Loss 2–2 Jan 1980 Auckland, New Zealand Hard John Sadri 4–6, 6–3, 3–6, 4–6Loss 2–3 Oct 1980 Maui, U.S. Hard Eliot Teltscher 6–7, 3–6Loss 2–4 Jan 1981 Auckland, New Zealand Hard Bill Scanlon 7–6, 3–6, 6–3, 6–7, 0–6Win 3–4 Dec 1981 Sydney Outdoor, Australia Grass Chris Lewis 6–4, 7–6, 6–3Win 4–4 Jan 1982 Auckland, New Zealand Hard Russell Simpson 6–4, 6–4, 6–4Loss 4–5 Aug 1984 North Conway, U.S. Clay Joakim Nyström 2–6, 5–7Loss 4–6 Oct 1984 Basel, Switzerland Hard (i) Joakim Nyström 3–6, 6–3, 4–6, 2–6Win 5–6 Oct 1984 Vienna, Austria Carpet (i) Pavel Složil 6–1, 6–1, 6–2Win 6–6 Mar 1985 Nancy, France Carpet (i) Slobodan Živojinović 4–6, 7–6, 9–7Loss 6–7 Apr 1986 Atlanta, U.S. Carpet (i) Kevin Curren 6–7(5–7), 6–7(2–7)Loss 6–8 Jul 1986 Newport, U.S. Grass Bill Scanlon 5–7, 4–6Loss 6–9 Jun 1987 Bristol, England Grass Kelly Evernden 4–6, 6–7
Doubles: 24 (10 titles / 14 runner-ups) ResultW-L DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 0–1 Aug 1979 North Conway, U.S. Clay John Sadri Ion Țiriac Guillermo Vilas 4–6, 6–7Loss 0–2 Jan 1980 Auckland, New Zealand Hard John Sadri Peter Feigl Rod Frawley 2–6, 5–7Win 1–2 Jun 1980 Manchester, England Grass John Sadri Dennis Ralston Roscoe Tanner 6–7, 7–5, 6–2Loss 1–3 Oct 1980 Melbourne Indoor, Australia Carpet (i) John Sadri Fritz Buehning Ferdi Taygan 1–6, 2–6Win 2–3 Jan 1981 Auckland, New Zealand Hard Ferdi Taygan Tony Graham Bill Scanlon 7–5, 6–1Win 3–3 Oct 1981 Vienna, Austria Carpet (i) Steve Denton Sammy Giammalva Jr. Fred McNair 4–6, 6–3, 6–4Loss 3–4 Nov 1982 Taipei, Taiwan Carpet (i) Fred McNair Larry Stefanki Robert Van't Hof 3–6, 6–7Loss 3–5 Apr 1984 Bari, Italy Clay Marcel Freeman Stanislav Birner Libor Pimek 6–2, 6–7, 4–6Loss 3–6 Oct 1984 Basel, Switzerland Hard (i) Stefan Edberg Pavel Složil Tomáš Šmíd 6–7, 2–6Win 4–6 Nov 1984 Treviso, Italy Clay Pavel Složil Jan Gunnarsson Sherwood Stewart 7–5, 6–3Loss 4–7 Nov 1984 Toulouse, France Hard (i) Pavel Složil Jan Gunnarsson Michael Mortensen 4–6, 2–6Loss 4–8 Oct 1985 Basel, Switzerland Hard (i) Mark Dickson Tim Gullikson Tom Gullikson 6–4, 4–6, 4–6Win 5–8 Jul 1986 Newport, U.S. Grass Vijay Amritraj Eddie Edwards Francisco González 4–6, 7–5, 7–6Loss 5–9 Sep 1987 Los Angeles, U.S. Hard Brad Gilbert Kevin Curren David Pate 3–6, 4–6Win 6–9 Oct 1987 Vienna, Austria Carpet (i) Mel Purcell Emilio Sánchez Javier Sánchez 6–3, 7–5Loss 6–10 Aug 1988 Toronto, Canada Hard Andrew Castle Ken Flach Robert Seguso 6–7, 3–6Win 7–10 Aug 1988 Rye Brook, U.S. Hard Andrew Castle Jeremy Bates Michael Mortensen 4–6, 7–5, 7–6Loss 7–11 Oct 1988 San Francisco, U.S. Carpet Scott Davis John McEnroe Mark Woodforde 4–6, 6–7Win 8–11 Oct 1988 Scottsdale, U.S. Hard Scott Davis Rick Leach Jim Pugh 6–4, 7–6Loss 8–12 Nov 1988 Johannesburg, South Africa Hard (i) Gary Muller Kevin Curren David Pate 6–7, 4–6Loss 8–13 Feb 1989 Memphis, U.S. Hard (i) Scott Davis Paul Annacone Christo van Rensburg 6–7, 7–6, 1–6Loss 8–14 Apr 1989 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Carpet Patrick McEnroe Jorge Lozano Todd Witsken 6–2, 4–6, 4–6Win 9–14 Jun 1989 Bristol, England Grass Paul Chamberlin Mike De Palmer Gary Donnelly 7–6, 6–4Win 10–14 Aug 1989 Livingston, U.S. Hard Tim Pawsat Kelly Evernden Sammy Giammalva Jr. 7–5, 6–3
References
External links