He was a man who grew sick and tired of tennis and the constant treadmill of airports, hotels and tournaments in strange places that came with playing on the professional tour.

And so Chris Wilkinson gave it up. Just walked away. No regrets whatsoever.

That was 18 years ago. He even remembers the exact date – Tuesday, 22 June 1999, following a first round defeat on Wimbledon’s Centre Court to Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, writes SPENCER VIGNES.

So how come the best tennis player to come out of Hampshire in decades was back on court this year at the All England Club?

Hadn’t his love affair with the sport ended? Apparently not. That’s because Wilkinson has found his mojo again while playing on the ‘legends’ circuit consisting of various household names including Lleyton Hewitt, Goran Ivanisevic and Henri Leconte.

Every Wimbledon they come together during the second week of the Championships and entertain the crowds with the kind of flamboyant play that younger professionals, with the possible exception of Roger Federer, simply wouldn’t dare attempt.

The waistlines may have expanded slightly. Substitute speed for more of a lope. But the pressure is off. It’s fun. And that, as far as Wilkinson is concerned, is the key.

“There’s a competitive edge but I think the most important thing when we’re playing at Wimbledon is to provide entertainment for the crowd,” says Wilkinson, now 47.

“They want to see the names from the past who can still serve, volley and rally. They see a lot of the serious tennis when they’re watching the main Centre Court, so they come away from that and find one of the smaller show courts and watch (Mark) Philippoussis, (Goran) Ivanisevic and some of the other stars they might remember.

“And a lot of these guys can still play. I played (Richard) Krajicek the other day and he was serving 120, 125 miles an hour. The standard is still good, but there’s that humour.”

It is easy to forget, in the Andy Murray era, just what a decent tennis player the Southampton-born Wilkinson was.

The former British number one played Davis Cup, represented his country at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, and reached the third round at Wimbledon on four separate occasions.

In fact over the past 30 years only three Brits – Murray, Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski – have had better records at the All England Club in the men’s singles.

“The one that stands out for me is actually a match that I lost against (Stefan) Edberg in 1993 in the third round,” says Wilkinson. “That was on Centre Court which I’d never played on before. The feeling of walking out, playing, and giving a pretty good account of myself against the number two in the world at the time is still with me.

“It was three straight sets but that doesn’t really tell the story because it was three tight sets.

“My best win here was against Jonas Bjorkman who was seeded 16. I remember that because it was played over about four days. We had a lot of rain which made it stop-and-start and I won 6-4 in the fifth set.

“Kuerten was my last match here. I thought that might be the end beforehand, and it was. I played the match and thought ‘That’s fine, I’m done’.

“But, hey, I’m very lucky to have the memories. You’ll have no complaints from me, none whatsoever.”