Oliver Golding (born 29 September 1993) is a British former professional tennis player and child actor. Golding is a Youth Olympic Games gold medallist, having won gold in the boys' doubles event in tennis at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics with Czech partner Jiří Veselý, with whom he also reached the final in the boys' doubles at the 2010 U.S. Open.
Showing promise in reaching a world junior ranking of number two and being the 2011 U.S. Open Boys' Champion,Youngest ever junior British number one: BBC.co.uk. Retrieved 4 January 2010. Golding failed to transition onto the men's professional circuit, never entering the top 300 and failing to win a match on the ATP tour.
Tennis
Early career In 2004, Golding began playing tennis for the Esporta Riverside Club, Chiswick,Playing tennis for the Esporta Riverside Club , 2004: Esporta.com website. Retrieved 28 January 2008. and later that year went to Wimbledon, under the Lawn Tennis Association's "Ariel Champions of the Future" scheme, to meet former professionals Martina Navratilova and Todd Woodbridge."Serving up future stars": Newsquest's ThisIsHertfordshire website. Retrieved 28 January 2008.
On 27 November 2005, in the first ever Aberdeen Cup tennis match,The Aberdeen Cup 2005 (tennis): AboutAberdeen.com website. Retrieved 28 January 2008. Golding was selected to represent England in one of the junior matches, beating Scotland's Scott Lister 11 games to 4 in their "tie-break" style rubber, to square the match however, Jamie Murray and Elena Baltacha won their subsequent doubles game, to secure a Scottish victory.Golding wins, but England lose: BBC Sport website. Retrieved 28 January 2008. It was claimed on the Guardian Unlimited website that Golding had "impressed Andy Murray when he played for England against Scotland".Impressing Andy Murray? Yes, according to the Guardian. Retrieved 28 January 2008.
In late 2006, as fourth seed, Golding lost 4–6, 2–6, in the semi-final of the Ariel Winter Grand Prix event (promoted by the LTA), to the eventual winner, number two seed Andrew Bettles.Ariel Winter Grand Prix 2006, semi-finalist: Falmouth Packet website. Retrieved 28 January 2008.
Golding's first two tournament wins were in the Bournemouth Open (Boys 14) at the West Hants Club on 5 August 2007,Bournemouth Open (Boys 14) at the West Hants Club: CoreTennis.net website. Retrieved 6 February 2008. when he defeated David Wright 6–3, 6–0 in the Final,6–3, 6–0 victory for Golding, against David Wright, at the Bournemouth Open: CoreTennis.net website. Retrieved 6 February 2008. and in the Frutina Westway Winter Tournament (16 & Under) on 31 December 2007, when he beat Alexander Wilton 6–0, 6–0 in that Final match. victory for Golding, against Alexander France, in the Frutina Westway Winter Tournament: LTA website. Retrieved 10 April 2008. Golding was also the recipient of a £2,000 grant from "Tennis First", a charity set up to help young players fulfil their potential, and tennis kit from the manufacturers Fred Perry. Subsequently, on 5 April 2008, Golding beat Zack Evenden 6–3, 6–1 to win the Rickmansworth Junior Tournament (18 & Under Boys Singles). win over Zack Evenden, Rickmansworth Junior Tournament (18 & Under Boys Singles) Final: LTA website. Retrieved 14 April 2008.
Golding won his first ITF tournament in July 2008 at the Grade 5 Scottish International ITF doubles competition, partnering Nick Jones.Doubles success partnering Nick Jones, Scottish Junior International Championships, July 2008: ITFTennis.com website. Retrieved 22 July 2008. He became the British junior No. 1 in late 2009. In 2010 he reached the semifinals in the junior boys singles at Wimbledon, beating the world Number No. 1 Jason Kubler en route.Golding beats Jason Kubler at Wimbledon: Wimbledon.org website. Retrieved 2 August 2010.Defeats Renzo Olivo to reach Wimbledon Junior semi finals: BBC.co.uk website. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
At the Youth Olympics Golding beat world No. 1 and Junior Wimbledon champion Márton Fucsovics in round 1 of the singles, and won gold in the boys' doubles with Czech partner Jiří Veselý. This moved him into the top 20 of the ITF boys' world rankings. At the 2010 US Open Golding once again teamed up with Jiří Veselý in the boys' doubles. They reached the final where they lost 6–1, 7–5.
In September 2011, Golding won the US Open boys' singles, reaching as high as No. 2 in the junior combined rankings as a result.
Junior performance timelines
Singles
Tournament 2009 2010 2011 W–L Grand Slam tournaments Australian Open A 3R A 2–1 French Open A 2R QF 4–2 Wimbledon 1R SF 2R 5–3 US Open A 2R W 7–1Win–loss 0–1 8–4 10–2 Youth Olympic Games Summer Youth OlympicsNH QFNH 2–1
Doubles Tournament 2009 2010 2011 W–L Grand Slam tournaments Australian Open A 1R A 0–1 French Open A QF QF 4–2 Wimbledon 1R 1R F 4–3 US Open 1R F QF 6–3Win–loss 0–2 5–4 8–3 Youth Olympic Games Summer Youth OlympicsNH WNH 4–0
2011
Golding was given a wildcard to play at the Aegon Championships in London but lost in the first round to 2007 finalist Nicolas Mahut in his first non-junior event.
At the French Open Golding was a Boys' Singles quarterfinalist. He was defeated by Bjorn Fratangelo 1–6, 1–6. Golding also reached the quarterfinals of the Boys' doubles at the French Open, partnered with Jiří Veselý, they lost to Mitchell Krueger and Shane Vinsant of the US in 4–6, 6–4, 8–10.
At the Wimbledon Championships Golding reached the Final of the boys' doubles, partnered with Jiří Veselý, where they lost to George Morgan & Mate Pavić in 3 sets 6–3, 4–6, 5–7. Golding reached the second round of the boys' singles.
Golding partnered Liam Broady at the boys' doubles at the 2011 U.S. Open, being beaten by R. Kern and J. Lenz, 6–7 (4–7), 4–6 of Germany in the quarterfinals. In the boys' Singles at the 2011 U.S. Open Golding won the final by defeating Jiří Veselý 5–7, 6–3, 6–4.
Golding finished the 2011 season with an ITF Junior Boys' Rankings world ranking of 3; his highest season ranking was 2.
2012
Through 2012, Golding mainly played on the Futures tour, winning two tournaments and losing one further final as of September 2012. Golding made his ATP Tour debut at the 2012 Aegon Championships and his grand slam debut at Wimbledon, losing both matches.
2014
In August 2014, Golding announced that he was "taking a break" from tour tennis, as he felt he had just been "going through the motions", partly due to his feelings about the reduction in the Lawn Tennis Association's bonus scheme and the closure of the high-performance programme at the National Tennis Centre in Richmond, very near his home. He stated that he felt he would have to relocate to France to continue in top-class tennis, because of a shortage of high quality training locations in the UK. However, he found that he was unwilling to do this, due to his dislike of travelling.Rising tennis star who quit sport, Oli Golding, says it's too hard to find places to play tennis in London: Daily Telegraph website. Retrieved 30 November 2015. As of 2015, Golding was a former tennis player helping out at his mother's tennis coaching school.Finding a new job after hanging up the tennis racquet: BBC.co.uk. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
2017 Golding made a brief comeback in August when he came through qualifying to win an ITF Futures tournament in Italy defeating Davide Galoppini in the final 7–6 6–3. In the first round he knocked out the number one seed Yaraslav Shyla (298) 6–2 7–6. He followed this by reaching the final of his next futures event in Nottingham.
Golding admitted to being approached by Alexandros Jakupovic to throw a match.
Challengers and Futures finals Singles: 12 (6 titles, 6 runner-ups) Legend (singles)ATP Challenger Tour (0–0)ITF Futures Tour (6–6)Titles by surfaceHard (4–3)Clay (2–3)Grass (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreWin1–0Great Britain F6, BournemouthFuturesClay Andrew Fitzpatrick7–6(7–4), 6–4Win2–0Great Britain F8, NewcastleFuturesClay Daniel Smethurst6–4, 6–1Loss2–1Netherlands F5, EnschedeFuturesClay Alexander Slabinsky7–6(7–5), 3–6, 4–6Loss2–2Qatar F2, DohaFuturesHard Clément Reix3–6, 4–6Loss2–3Spain F15, MadridFuturesClay Richard Becker3–6, 2–6Loss2–4Austria F6, WelsFuturesClay Dennis Novak2–6, 7–6(7–2), 6–7(1–7)Win3–4Greece F19, HeraklionFuturesHard Luke Bambridge1–6, 6–2, 6–3Win4–4Greece F20, RethymnoFuturesHard Nikola Čačić6–4, 7–6(7–4)Win5–4Portugal F1, Vale do LoboFuturesHard Stanislav Vovk6–1, 6–3Loss5–5Qatar F2, DohaFuturesHard Adrien Bossel4–6, 1–6Win6–5Italy F27, PiombinoFuturesHard Davide Galoppini7–6(7–3), 6–3Loss6–6Great Britain F4, NottinghamFuturesHard Lloyd Glasspool7–5, 4–6, 4–6
Doubles: 15 (9 titles, 6 runner-ups) Legend (doubles)ATP Challenger Tour (0–0)ITF Futures Tour (9–6)Titles by surfaceHard (7–4)Clay (2–2)Grass (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss0–1Great Britain F12, RoehamptonFuturesHard Neal Skupski Ashwin Kumar Laurent Rochette2–6, 7–6(10–8), [6–10]Win1–1Sweden F6, FalunFuturesHard (i) Daniel Smethurst Pierre Bonfre Viktor Stjern7–6(7–2), 7–6(8–6)Win2–1Great Britain F17, CardiffFuturesHard (i) Sean Thornley Daniel Cox Daniel Smethurst6–4, 6–4Win3–1Turkey F33, AntalyaFuturesHard Joris De Loore Damir Džumhur Aldin Šetkić6–3, 7–6(7–5)Win4–1Turkey F35, AntalyaFuturesHard Gleb Sakharov Antonio Comporto Thomas Fabbiano6–2, 6–1Win5–1Belgium F3, KnokkeFuturesClay Joris De Loore Alexander Blom Thanasi Kokkinakis5–7, 7–6(7–3), [10–7]Loss5–2Great Britain F12, WrexhamFuturesHard Sean Thornley Lewis Burton Edward Corrie4–6, 0–6Loss5–3Belgium F8, KoksijdeFuturesClay Joris De Loore Daniel Glancy Manuel Sánchez6–3, 2–6, [8–10]Loss5–4Italy F6, PozzuoliFuturesClay Denys Mylokostov Ken Skupski Neal Skupski3–6, 3–6Win6–4Spain F15, MadridFuturesClay Alexander Ward Richard Becker Lorenzo Giustino6–3, 2–6, [10–5]Loss6–5Greece F18, HeraklionFuturesHard Luke Bambridge Marko Djokovic Carlos Gómez-Herrera1–6, 7–6(7–3), [11–13]Win7–5Greece F19, HeraklionFuturesHard Luke Bambridge Andreas Mies Oscar Otte6–3, 7–5Win8–5Greece F1, HeraklionFuturesHard Alexandros Jakupovic Nikola Čačić Ilija Vucic6–1, 3–6, [10–5]Loss8–6Qatar F3, DohaFuturesHard Joshua Ward-Hibbert Chen Ti Ruan Roelofse1–6, 1–6Win9–6Great Britain F12, ManchesterFuturesHard George Morgan Edward Corrie Joshua Ward-Hibbert7–6(7–4), 4–6, [10–6]
Junior titles
Singles
Junior Grand Slams: 1 (1–0) Outcome Year Championship Surface Opponent Score Winner 2011 US Open Hard Jiří Veselý 5–7, 6–3, 6–4
Doubles
Youth Olympics 1 (1–0) Outcome No. Date Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score Winner 1. 20 August 2010 Youth Olympics, Singapore Hard Jiří Veselý Victor Baluda Mikhail Biryukov 6–3, 6–1
Junior Doubles: 0 (0–2) Outcome No. Date Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score Runner-up 1. 13 September 2010 US Open Hard Jiří Veselý Duilio Beretta Roberto Quiroz 1–6, 5–7 Runner-up 2. 3 July 2011 Wimbledon Grass Jiří Veselý George Morgan Mate Pavić 6–3, 4–6, 5–7
Performance timelines
Singles Tournament 2011 2012 2013 2014 Career SR Career W-L Grand Slam tournaments Australian Open A A A A 0/0 0–0 French Open A A A A 0/0 0–0 Wimbledon Q2 1R A Q2 0/1 0–1 US Open A A A A 0/0 0–0Win–loss 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–0 0/1 0–1 Career statistics Tournaments played 1 2 0 0 Career total: 3 Titles 0 0 0 0 Career total: 0 Finals reached 0 0 0 0 Career total: 0 Overall win–loss 0–1 0–2 0–0 0–0 0/3 0–3 Win % 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% Year end ranking 701 431 406 –
Doubles Current through 2012 Wimbledon Championships. Tournament 2011 2012 Career S/R Career W-L Grand Slam tournaments Australian Open A A 0/0 0–0 French Open A A 0/0 0–0 Wimbledon Q1 1R 0/1 0–1 US Open A A 0/0 0–0 Summer OlympicsNot held A 0/0 0–0Win–loss 0–0 0–1 0/1 0–1 Career statistics Tournaments played 0 1 Career total: 1 Titles 0 0 Career total: 0 Finals reached 0 0 Career total: 0 Overall win–loss 0–0 0–1 0/1 0–1 Win % 0% 0% 0% 0% Year end ranking 477 –
Education