Oliver Golding

In 2004, Golding began playing tennis for the Esporta Riverside Club, Chiswick,[2] and later that year went to Wimbledon, under the Lawn Tennis Association's "Ariel Champions of the Future" scheme, to meet former professionals Martina Navratilova and Todd Woodbridge.[3]

Oliver Golding in action during the 2010 US Open

On 27 November 2005, in the first ever Aberdeen Cup tennis match,[4] Golding was selected to represent England in one of the junior matches, beating Scotland's Scott Lister 11 games to 4 in their "tie-break" style rubber, to square the match however, Jamie Murray and Elena Baltacha won their subsequent doubles game, to secure a Scottish victory.[5] It was claimed on the Guardian Unlimited website that Golding had "impressed Andy Murray when he played for England against Scotland".[6]

In late 2006, as fourth seed, Golding lost 4–6, 2–6, in the semi-final of the Ariel Winter Grand Prix event (promoted by the LTA), to the eventual winner, number two seed Andrew Bettles.[7]

Golding's first two tournament wins were in the Bournemouth Open (Boys 14) at the West Hants Club on 5 August 2007,[8] when he defeated David Wright 6–3, 6–0 in the Final,[9] and in the Frutina Westway Winter Tournament (16 & Under) on 31 December 2007, when he beat Alexander Wilton 6–0, 6–0 in that Final match.[10] Golding was also the recipient of a £2,000 grant from "Tennis First", a charity set up to help young players fulfil their potential, and tennis kit from the manufacturers Fred Perry. Subsequently, on 5 April 2008, Golding beat Zack Evenden 6–3, 6–1 to win the Rickmansworth Junior Tournament (18 & Under Boys Singles).[11]

Golding won his first ITF tournament in July 2008 at the Grade 5 Scottish International ITF doubles competition, partnering Nick Jones.[12] He became the British junior No. 1 in late 2009. In 2010 he reached the semifinals in the junior boys singles at Wimbledon, beating the world Number No. 1 Jason Kubler en route.[13][14]

At the Youth Olympics Golding beat world No. 1 and Junior Wimbledon champion Márton Fucsovics in round 1 of the singles,[15] and won gold in the boys' doubles with Czech partner Jiří Veselý. This moved him into the top 20 of the ITF boys' world rankings. At the 2010 US Open Golding once again teamed up with Jiří Veselý in the boys' doubles. They reached the final where they lost 6–1, 7–5.

In September 2011, Golding won the US Open boys' singles, reaching as high as No. 2 in the junior combined rankings as a result.

Golding was given a wildcard to play at the Aegon Championships in London but lost in the first round to 2007 finalist Nicolas Mahut in his first non-junior event.

At the French Open Golding was a Boys' Singles quarterfinalist. He was defeated by Bjorn Fratangelo 1–6, 1–6. Golding also reached the quarterfinals of the Boys' doubles at the French Open, partnered with Jiří Veselý, they lost to Mitchell Krueger and Shane Vinsant of the US in 4–6, 6–4, 8–10.

At the Wimbledon Championships Golding reached the Final of the boys' doubles, partnered with Jiří Veselý, where they lost to George Morgan & Mate Pavić in 3 sets 6–3, 4–6, 5–7. Golding reached the second round of the boys' singles.

Golding partnered Liam Broady at the boys' doubles at the 2011 U.S. Open, being beaten by R. Kern and J. Lenz, 6–7 (4–7), 4–6 of Germany in the quarterfinals. In the boys' Singles at the 2011 U.S. Open Golding won the final by defeating Jiří Veselý 5–7, 6–3, 6–4.

Golding finished the 2011 season with an ITF Junior Boys' Rankings world ranking of 3; his highest season ranking was 2.

Through 2012, Golding mainly played on the Futures tour, winning two tournaments and losing one further final as of September 2012.[16] Golding made his ATP Tour debut at the 2012 Aegon Championships and his grand slam debut at Wimbledon, losing both matches.[17]

In August 2014, Golding announced that he was "taking a break" from tour tennis, as he felt he had just been "going through the motions", partly due to his feelings about the reduction in the Lawn Tennis Association's bonus scheme and the closure of the high-performance programme at the National Tennis Centre in Richmond, very near his home. He stated that he felt he would have to relocate to France to continue in top-class tennis, because of a shortage of high quality training locations in the UK. However, he found that he was unwilling to do this, due to his dislike of travelling.[18] As of 2015, Golding was a former tennis player helping out at his mother's tennis coaching school.[19]

Golding made a brief comeback in August when he came through qualifying to win an ITF Futures tournament in Italy defeating Davide Galoppini in the final 7–6 6–3. In the first round he knocked out the number one seed Yaraslav Shyla (298) 6–2 7–6. He followed this by reaching the final of his next futures event in Nottingham.

Golding admitted to being approached by Alexandros Jakupovic to throw a match.[20]

Current through 2012 Wimbledon Championships.

• All or Nothing (2002)
• Strings (voice) (2004)
• The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby (2005)