The Open Era

Tom Gullikson

United States · born La Crosse, Wisconsin, 1951 · left-handed · Newport champion in 1985 and Wimbledon doubles finalist with his twin, Tim

A painted still life of a grass court in the open era, not a portrait of the player
A period scene. No freely licensed photograph of this player has been found yet.

All players

1985

Newport singles title, his only tour singles title, won at 33

1983

Wimbledon doubles final with his twin, Tim

4

Wimbledon 35-and-over invitation singles titles, 1987 to 1990, three of the finals against Tim

4

Career-high doubles ranking, September 1983

15

ATP doubles titles, most of them with Tim

Playing career

Tom Gullikson and his identical twin, Tim, were born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1951, Tom the elder by five minutes, and grew up in Onalaska. Tom, a left-hander, was Northern Illinois University's first tennis All-American and later coached there. The brothers turned professional together in 1977, at 24.

In singles Tom reached the US Open quarter-finals in 1982 and a career high of No. 34 in 1984, and won one title, at Newport in 1985. In doubles he rose to No. 4 in 1983, won 15 titles, most of them with Tim, reached the 1983 Wimbledon final with him and won the 1984 US Open mixed doubles with Manuela Maleeva. Tim died of cancer in 1996.

Tom became one of the first coaches in the USTA Player Development Program, working with Todd Martin, Jennifer Capriati and Andy Roddick among others, and was its director of coaching from 1997 to 2001. He captained the US Davis Cup team from 1994 to 1999, winning the Cup in Moscow in 1995, and coached the US men's team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where Andre Agassi won gold.

On grass

Newport 1985Won the singles, beating John Sadri 6-3, 7-5 in the final
Wimbledon 1983 doublesSeeded seventh with Tim; lost the final to Peter Fleming and John McEnroe 6-4, 6-3, 6-4
Grass doubles finals with TimNewport 1978: beat Colin Dibley and Bob Giltinan 6-4, 6-4. Queen's 1979: beat Marty Riessen and Sherwood Stewart 6-4, 6-4. Newport 1983: lost to Vijay Amritraj and John Fitzgerald 6-3, 6-4
Wimbledon 35-and-over singlesChampion 1987 (beat Bob Lutz 6-3, 7-6), 1988 (beat Tim 6-2, 7-6), 1989 (beat Tim 7-5, 6-3) and 1990 (beat Tim 4-6, 6-2, 7-6); Tim won the event in 1991
Wimbledon invitation doubles35-and-over champions with Tim in 1987, beating Riessen and Stewart 7-6, 6-4; runners-up in 1990. 45-and-over champions with Brian Gottfried in 1999

Every grass title: 5

Show every title, tournament by tournament
Newport, Rhode Island
1978 Men's doubles Hall of Fame Open with Tim Gullikson
1985 Men's singles Hall of Fame Open
Queen's Club
1979 Men's doubles with Tim Gullikson
Surrey Championships (Surbiton)
1979 Men's doubles with Tim Gullikson
Bristol (West of England)
1982 Men's doubles Bristol Open with Tim Gullikson

Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. † single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions

"We couldn't have done it without each other."

Tom Gullikson on his twin, Tim, to Bud Collins, Boston Globe, May 1996, reprinted in The Spokesman-Review

Anecdotes

The person behind the player.

La Crosse, 1950s

TimTom

Their mother signed them up for lessons at five, across the street from a University of Wisconsin campus. The college students could not tell the twins apart and called them both "TimTom".

Source: Ponte Vedra Recorder

Wimbledon, 1979

One brother each

John McEnroe, the second seed, beat Tom in the third round. In the next round Tim beat McEnroe in straight sets on Court Two.

Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025

Wimbledon, June 1981

You cannot be serious

Tom was McEnroe's first-round opponent when McEnroe shouted "You cannot be serious!" at the umpire over a serve called out. McEnroe won 7-6, 7-5, 6-3. Gullikson said such behaviour had no place in the game and that a lower-ranked player would have been defaulted.

Source: Tennis Majors

Wimbledon, July 1983

Small-town boys

The twins received their runners-up medals from the Duke and Duchess of Kent in the Royal Box. Tom remembered Tim's verdict: "Not bad for a couple of small town boys from Onalaska, Wisconsin."

Source: Ponte Vedra Recorder

Moscow, 1995

Captain in Moscow

As captain he took the United States to Moscow for the Davis Cup final, where they beat Russia 3-2 at the Olympic Stadium.

Source: Ponte Vedra Recorder

Explore

Where they won on grass

Elsewhere online

All players

Sources

Page updated 4 November 2026. Spotted an error? Send a correction.

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