Tim Wilkison and his story with ABSG
25/02/2020
Tim Wilkison is a professional tennis coach who currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina in the United States. He played professional tennis on the ATP and Senior Pro Tour for 25 years. He won 6 singles titles on the ATP Tour and 9 doubles titles. Tim also won the US Open and Wimbledon 35 years and older men’s doubles championships., and his highest ATP ranking was #21.
Tim has had many experiences in Greater China over the past 43 years and his current passion is helping young Chinese tennis players reach the highest level of professional tennis.
Tim’s first experience in China came in 1978 when he was only 19 years old. He was invited to participate in a US government to China government program where top US tennis players and coaches were invited to spend two weeks playing with the best Chinese players and meeting with the top Chinese coaches. The level of the Chinese players was a surprise to Tim and they had many close matches on beautiful red clay tennis courts on the banks of the Huangpu River. After that 1978 trip Tim carried on for many years in his professional tennis career playing the top players in the Grand Slam tournaments and trying with all his energy to reach his highest potential. Tim finally retired from playing as a tennis professional in 2001 at the age of 42.
China was certainly a major, rising country at that time and sports development was an important area for the country. He has had the thrill of traveling throughout China with the Shanghai Team players at tournaments throughout the country and he has even had the honor of assisting the team during the People’s National Games! During his coaching stint Tim has had the honor of being a part of the coaching team of the two top Chinese men’s players in history; Wu, Di and Zhang, Zhizhen.
Through his coaching work in the US coaching Nike Tennis Camps, Tim was introduced to one of global famous sports entrepreneur Mr. Mike Yang. Mr. Yang founded Nike Sports camps China which has reached many provinces and runs many sports in Greater China. Mr. Yang hired Tim to run some of the first Nike Tennis Camps in Shanghai and they have stayed friends and business partners since. A current project they are working together in is to assist Mr. Yang’s newest company, AquaBloom Sports Group, in bringing international tennis and golf companies to the Greater China market. Tim has made many trips to China over the past few years to assist with this project and he even gets to play tennis on some of these trips!
