Wilkison was the No. 1 ranked junior in the United States and played on the tour for over 25 years. He prepped at
McCallie School in
Chattanooga,
Tennessee before turning pro immediately after high school. The left-hander won six singles titles, ten doubles championships, and reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 23 in September 1986. Wilkison is perhaps best known for his diving volleys at
Wimbledon that earned him the nickname "Dr. Dirt". In his playing career, Wilkison had victories over
Arthur Ashe,
Stan Smith,
Roscoe Tanner,
Guillermo Vilas,
Yannick Noah,
Boris Becker,
Jim Courier,
John McEnroe,
Andre Agassi, and
Pete Sampras. His best Grand Slam singles result came at the
1986 US Open, where he reached the quarterfinals by defeating
Horst Skoff,
Paul McNamee, Yannick Noah and
Andrei Chesnokov, before losing to
Stefan Edberg in straight sets. Wilkison has stated that his preferred surface is
clay. His eldest son, MacLane, played college tennis at
UNC. ==Career finals==