Timothy Ernest Gullikson (September 8, 1951 – May 3, 1996) was a
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
Onalaska, Wisconsin
Onalaska is a city in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 18,803 at the 2020 census. It borders the larger La Crosse, Wisconsin, and is a part of the La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metropolitan Area.
Onalaska is built on ...
in the United States.
Gullikson was Pete Sampras' coach from 1992 to 1995.
Tennis career
In 1977, he won three tour singles titles and was named the ATP's Newcomer of the Year. During his career as a tennis player, Gullikson won 15 top-level doubles titles, ten of them partnering with his identical twin brother,
Tom Gullikson
Tom Gullikson (born September 8, 1951) is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player born in La Crosse, Wisconsin and raised in Onalaska, Wisconsin in the United States.Wimbledon in 1983. Tim also won a total of four top-level singles titles and reached the quarter-finals of the
1979 Wimbledon Championships
The 1979 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The tournament ran from 25 June until 7 July. It was the 93 ...
Tomáš Šmíd
Tomáš Šmíd (born 20 May 1956) is a former tennis player from Czechoslovakia, who won nine singles titles during his career. In doubles, he won 54 titles and was world No. 1 in doubles from December 17, 1984 to August 11, 1985. The right-hande ...
,
Cliff Letcher
Cliff Letcher (born 9 February 1952) was a former professional tennis player from Australia. He played Davis Cup for Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Cent ...
and
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...
in the fourth round, before losing to
Roscoe Tanner
Leonard Roscoe Tanner (born October 15, 1951) is a retired American tennis player, who turned professional in 1972 and reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 on July 30, 1979.
Tanner was famous for his big left-handed serve, which ...
. His career-high rankings were World No. 15 in singles (in 1979) and World No. 3 in doubles (in 1983).
Grand Slam finals
Doubles (1 runner-up)
Retirement
After retiring from the professional tour in 1986, Gullikson continued to play tennis in seniors events, winning the 35-over singles title at Wimbledon in 1991.
After retiring as a player, Gullikson turned his talents to coaching. He worked with several professional players, including Martina Navratilova,
Mary Joe Fernández
Mary Joe Fernández Godsick (born María José Fernández; August 19, 1971) is an American former professional tennis player, who reached a career-high ranking of world No. 4 in both singles and doubles. In singles, Fernández was the runner-up ...
and
Aaron Krickstein
Aaron Krickstein (born August 2, 1967), nicknamed "Marathon Man", is an American former professional tennis player who competed on the ATP Tour from 1983 to 1996. He currently competes on the Outback Champions Series Over-30 tour.
Krickstein ...
. Gullikson coached Pete Sampras from the start of 1992 until 1995, during which time Sampras won four
Grand Slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
singles titles and reached the World No. 1 ranking.
In late 1994, Gullikson suffered several seizures while touring with Sampras in Europe. The seizures were mistakenly traced to a congenital heart problem after German neurologists discovered a blood clot in his brain in December 1994. Gullikson insisted on accompanying Sampras to the Australian Open in January 1995 to help Sampras defend his title there, but collapsed during a practice session following another seizure. After tests at a Melbourne hospital proved inconclusive, Gullikson was sent home to Chicago for further testing, and the worried Sampras cried during his quarterfinal match against
Jim Courier
James Spencer "Jim" Courier (born August 17, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He won four major singles titles, two at the French Open and two at the Australian Open. He was the youngest man to reach the singles finals of ...
. Sampras dedicated that event – where he was runner-up to
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors.
Agassi is the second of five men to ac ...
– and all future events to his "great good friend" and mentor. Gullikson was later diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer.
Sampras went on to win 14 slams in his career, the remaining nine coming when
Paul Annacone
Paul Annacone (born March 20, 1963) is an American former touring professional tennis player and current tennis coach. He is the former coach of 20-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer, 14-time Grand Slam winner Pete Sampras, and 2017 US Open ...
was his coach, Gullikson's successor.
Gullikson died in May 1996 at his home in
Wheaton, Illinois
Wheaton is a suburban city in Milton and Winfield Townships and is the county seat of DuPage County, Illinois. It is located approximately west of Chicago. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 52,894, which was estimated ...
. After his death, his identical twin brother Tom formed the Tim and Tom Gullikson Foundation, which funds programs to help brain tumor patients and their families with the physical, emotional and social challenges presented by the disease.