William Barker (born 21 March 1981) is a British 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. Barker played collegiate tennis for

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

in the United States, forming a doubles partnership with twin brother

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

. The pair had 35 consecutive wins in their junior year, culminating in a semifinal loss at the

NCAA Division I Championships The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

. On the professional tour, Barker had a best doubles ranking of 244 in the world and partnered his brother in the main draw of the

2005 Wimbledon Championships The 2005 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 119th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fr ...

, where the wildcard pairing were defeated in the first round by top seeds

Jonas Björkman Jonas Lars Björkman (; born 23 March 1972) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He is a former world No. 1 in doubles, and also a former world No. 4 in singles. Björkman retired from professional tennis after competing at the 2008 T ...

and

Max Mirnyi Maksim "Max" Mikalaevich Mirnyi ( be, Максім Мікалаевіч Мірны, ; russian: Максим Николаевич Мирный, ; born 6 July 1977) is a Belarusian former professional tennis player. Mirnyi became a doubles speci ...

References

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, William 1981 births Living people British male tennis players English male tennis players Rice Owls men's tennis players Twin sportspeople English twins Tennis people from the West Midlands (county) Sportspeople from Solihull