Michael Walker (born 21 April 1966) is a former professional

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 ...

player from

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

who competed for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Professional playing career

Walker, who grew up in Colwyn Bay, was given a wild card into the

1986 Wimbledon Championships The 1986 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 100th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held from ...

and lost his opening round match, which went five sets, to Swiss player

Claudio Mezzadri Claudio Mezzadri (born 10 June 1965) is a retired professional tennis player from Switzerland. Mezzadri turned professional in 1983, and won his only ATP Tour, ATP singles title four years later in Geneva. He also won four doubles titles in his ca ...

.ATP World Tour Profile
/ref> He returned to

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

the following year, this time competing in the men's doubles, partnering Stephen Botfield. The pair were beaten in the first round by

Glenn Layendecker Glenn Layendecker (born May 9, 1961) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. His highest singles ranking was world No. 48 in 1990. Layendecker's highest doubles ranking was world No. 32. His career wins included wins over ...

and

Glenn Michibata Glenn Michibata (born 13 June 1962) is a former professional tennis player and former head coach of the Princeton University Tigers tennis team. Playing career Collegiate career Before turning pro, Michibata was an All-American player at Pepp ...

. He was a member of the Great Britain

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

squad in 1987, although he wasn't called on to play a match. In the

1988 Wimbledon Championships The 1988 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 102nd edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held from ...

he played mixed doubles with

Joy Tacon Joy Tacon (born 2 June 1961) is a British former professional tennis player. Tacon was born in 1961 and is a graduate of Wycombe Abbey School. She attended the University of Houston on a tennis scholarship. At the 1985 University Games in Kobe, ...

, but was again unable to reach the second round.

Coaching

The next part of his career was spent in

, where he was involved in coaching. From 1988 to 1990 he was national coach of the Hong Kong Sports Institute and he was then coaching director of the Hong Kong Tennis Association, until 1994. During this time he also represented

in the

(both as a player and captain). Walker took part in eight ties, winning 10 of his 15 singles rubbers and five of his eight doubles rubbers. He and Mark Bailey are the most successful ever doubles pairing for Hong Kong, with a 4-1 record. He is now running his own tennis academy in the United Kingdom.WIN Tennis
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Mike 1966 births Living people Welsh male tennis players Hong Kong male tennis players British tennis coaches People from Colwyn Bay Sportspeople from Conwy County Borough British male tennis players