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Dr. Dirt Comes Clean By James H. DeLorenzo [Originally published in the ATP Tour's International Tennis Magazine January/February 1998 issue.] He's perhaps the only professional tennis player in the world who wears a football game jersey during his matches. He's also probably the only man in the game you expect to be bloody by the end of a match. Skinned knees, bruised elbows, and ruined clothes go hand-in-hand with gutsy shots and hard-fought victories for Tim Wilkison, who is proud to be called by his long-time nickname, "Dr. Dirt." The Charlotte, North Carolina resident recently reached the age of 38, but still plays with the enthusiasm and intensity of a teenager. His hustling, all-out playing style has helped him become one of the top competitors on the men's over-35 tennis circuit, the Nuveen Tour (also known as the Champions Tour and the ATP Senior Tour of Champions). "This year has been very good," said Wilkison. " I'll be in 20 different tournaments this year, 12-13 of them on the senior circuit, plus Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. I did really well in doubles last year both on the tour and at the two Grand Slams, and this year I broke out a little in singles." Wilkison is too modest. In the current senior tour season, with one event remaining, Wilkison is in sixth place overall in the Nuveen Masters Point Standings with 825 points, trailing leader Jimmy Connors, Johan Kriek, Bjorn Borg, Andres Gomez and John McEnroe. The highlight of the season was Wilkison's first Nuveen Tour singles title, a grueling 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 13-11 victory over Kriek in Rockville, MD last May. The 6'0", 180-pound lefthander made his senior tour debut in 1995 at the age of 35. He quickly established himself as one of the top doubles players on the circuit, winning four doubles crowns with four different partners during the 1996-97 season. His hustling, lunging style has served him well since, as he became a crowd favorite throughout the world. Wilkison's trademark on the court is constantly talking to himself for motivational purposes. He works equally hard off the court motivating amateur players of all ages, whether in clinics on the tour, or at programs he runs at home. Wilkison joined the professional tennis ranks in 1976 at the age of 17, but formally signaled his arrival on the world stage two years later by upsetting Guillermo Vilas at Wimbledon in 1978's second round. With outstanding showings at the U.S. Open in 1986 (quarterfinalist), and the Australian Open in 1985 (round of 16), Wilkison established himself as a threat at any time, anywhere, and on any surface. It was at the '86 U.S. Open, however, where Wilkison's reputation was made. The lone surviving American that year, CBS picked up on his "Dr. Dirt" nickname. His upset of Yannick Noah during the Open knocked out the #5 seed after Wilkison battled back from a two-sets-to-one deficit. He then cruised into the quarterfinals with a straight-sets win over Andrei Chesnokov. The following year, he nearly pulled off more heroics, but fell to Noah this time at the Australian Open in a 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 fourth-round match. "Being called Dr. Dirt is like a term of endearment for me," said Wilkison. "I got the nickname because one of my coaches told me that Dr. J (NBA great Julius Erving) makes everything look real easy, but that I made everything look real hard. The only time it becomes a problem with me, is when someone tries to call my wife Mrs. Dirt. She doesn't like that." Wilkison and his wife Vicky are the parents of two sons, MacLane (9) and Cole (6). When Dr. Dirt isn't scrambling around on the preferred clay courts of the senior circuit, he's scrambling to keep up with his family. He also keeps a pretty grueling schedule, which begins each day at 4:30 a.m. "I get up at 4:30 in the morning to walk the dog," Wilkison said. "Then I go to the gym for an hour, to stretch, lift, ride the bike. When I get back home, I meditate for 20 minutes, then work on my tennis for about 90 minutes. By 8:30, I've worked out for about three hours. I hit the showers, and I'm at work by 9." Work, in this case, is his new job as Director of Tennis at Quail Hollow Country Club in Charlotte. "I've been working here since January, and the job allows me to travel and play for about 16 weeks a year," said Wilkison. "So I work out in the morning before the job starts, because I don't want to be sneaking in workouts while I'm on the job. It's tough, though, because now I go to sleep at night before my kids do." Teaching the game has always been important to Wilkison. "I still own a small company that supplies teaching programs for different tennis facilities," Wilkison said. "We go in and supply a program, teach them to teach. A lot of smaller clubs don't have pros. I like it because it helps a few other people teach, and helps some of the smaller, grassroots programs. "Right now, I'm also teaching at the Rosa House in Charlotte," continued Wilkison. "It's a home for abused children. We teach tennis to them one day a week." "When I first got off the regular tour, I started a program for underprivileged children in Raleigh, North Carolina," Wilkison said. "We had 200 kids, four days a week, for nine months. The program was held after school, and for three hours a day we'd be together. Me, and a professional instructor. We'd work on their homework for 90 minutes, then on their tennis for 90 minutes. "But when I started playing again, the program kind of died out. I'm hoping to revive it in Charlotte. I'd like to start it up again gradually, and then when I finally do retire from playing professionally, it will be ready for me to work with full-time. "You know, I watched my dad, David. He was a city manager in Shelby, North Carolina for 27 years," Wilkison said. "It was a public service job. He wasn't a politician, he was in the job just to help people. I sort of grew into this. When I was younger, I just wanted to practice, play my matches, and advance my career. I'm still like that to some extent, but now I want to remember more about life than that. When you are older, it's the relationships you had with people that you will remember." People remember Wilkison. Whether it's because of the Carolina Panthers jersey he now sports in matches, or because of the time he took to teach the game, Dr. Dirt has left his fingerprints everywhere.
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