The Clincher: How Gary Yam Became Hong Kong's Most Unlikely Tennis Warrior

The scoreboard read 4-3. All eyes were on Court 4. A 10-point tiebreaker would decide everything.

Gary Yam stepped up. His string snapped mid-point—but he won it anyway. He raced to an 8-1 lead. Four match points came and went. On the fifth, his opponent's passing shot sailed long.

Gary had done it again. He was the closer. The man his team turned to when the pressure was highest. That was Gary Yam in America. This is Gary, now—36 years old, ranked No. 2 in Hong Kong, coaching the next generation, and still chasing the dream at the 2026 SCAA Open.

This is the story of a man who embodies the Hong Kong spirit: resilient, relentless, and never quite done.

The Boy Who Found His Reset Button

At seven, Gary's parents introduced him to tennis. They never pushed. They never forced. But something clicked. "I just love the game scoring system of tennis," he says. "It's often high pressure either after I won a love game or had a tough game because it gets reset back to 0-0 no matter what." There's something profound in that observation. No matter how dramatic the previous game, the score goes back to zero. Every point is a fresh start. Every game is a new beginning.

It's a philosophy that has carried him through two decades of competition. Win or lose, the reset button is always there.

“Every point is a fresh start. Every game is a new beginning”

The Clincher: A College Legend in the Making

Gary took his game to the United States, playing for Azusa Pacific University in California. He earned athletic and academic scholarships from 2012 to 2015. By his senior year, he had earned a reputation.

When matches got close, his position in the lineup stayed the same. He was the clincher—the player his team trusted when everything was on the line. One afternoon in March 2015, the Cougars faced Army in a tightly contested dual match. The team score was tied 3-3. Only one match remained unfinished: Court 4. The winner of that match would decide the entire team victory.

Gary was on Court 4. His opponent was Kyle Barnes. The match came down to a 10-point tiebreaker. Gary raced to an 8-1 lead—winning one point with a broken string. Four match points came and went. On the fifth, his opponent's passing shot sailed long. Gary had done it again. The Cougars won 4-3.

"I've been in that situation before with the match on the line," he said afterward. "I just had to play with a really high intensity and put the pressure on him early. I knew that if I won points on my serve I would be in a good position to win the match."He did exactly that.

A month later, in his final home match, history repeated itself. The Cougars trailed 4-3. Two seniors—Gary and Ben Eger—were the only ones still on court. Both had to win. Eger won first. Then Gary, from behind in the third set 2-3, won three games in a row to take a 5-3 lead and served it out for a 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory.

The storybook ending was complete. The clincher had done it one last time.

The Numbers That Don't Lie

When you've been playing as long as Gary Yam, the numbers start to stack up. And his numbers tell a story of sustained excellence.

In November 2024, he reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of 1453. That same year, he climbed to 2008 in doubles. On the national stage, he went even higher—No. 2 in Hong Kong men's singles, No. 7 in doubles. But rankings are just numbers. The real story is in the results.

In 2019, he stormed through qualifying and into the SCAA Open semi-finals—a run that announced his return to Hong Kong tennis after his American college years. In 2025, he reached the CRC Open semi-finals. He's won local tournaments. He's represented Hong Kong internationally.

The numbers tell you where he's been. But they don't tell you why he's still here. Gary is still competing because he loves the chess match. He loves the pressure. He loves the feeling of standing on a court with everything on the line, knowing that the reset button is always just one game away. And that, perhaps, is the most Hong Kong thing about him.

The Chess Player's Mind

While most fans marvel at flashy winners, Gary sees something else entirely. "I actually don't really care about a beautiful winner shot that someone hit," he says. "I rather appreciate how a player construct his point patterns that lead him to win that point at the end. To me, that's very artistic."

He doesn't just watch tennis. He reads it. He dissects patterns. He studies how players build points like architects designing a building.

"I love to read my opponent's patterns of play, and play a chess game with him on the tennis court." It's why he loved watching the Big 3 era. Federer, Nadal, Djokovic—all three possessed such high tennis IQ. Every point was a puzzle. Every match was a battle of wits.

The Coach Who Still Competes

Today, Gary wears two hats. Player. Coach.

He coaches at NextGen Tennis Academy in Hong Kong, bringing over 10 years of experience to his students. The academy's coaching team comprises current and former professional and elite tennis players from Hong Kong.

His coaching philosophy is shaped by his own journey. He's been where his students are. He knows the grind. He knows the pressure.

"I would say I am even more experienced compared to when it was 2019," he reflects.

That experience is his edge. He knows the patterns. He knows the pressure. He knows how to navigate the chaos.

The Hong Kong Spirit

At 36, Gary isn't just competing for himself. He's competing for his students. He's showing them what dedication looks like.

"At this stage of my tennis career, I just love playing a competitive singles match still whenever I can. Because I know I won't be able to run all out on the tennis court later in my life."

There's a bittersweet honesty in those words. Tennis is finite. The body won't always cooperate. So every match, every sprint, every dive—it's all precious.

He also offers a simple philosophy for handling pressure:

"Stop thinking about 'I am the better player' or 'my opponent is stronger than me.' Focus what I can do and what I should do, and try to execute my game plan the best I can. If I can do that well, results usually favor me. Results are not controllable, but efforts and preparation are."

“Results are not controllable, but efforts and preparation are”

That's the Hong Kong spirit distilled into a few sentences. Don't waste energy on what you can't control. Focus on what you can. Give it everything you've got. And trust that the effort will speak for itself.

Beyond the SCAA Open, Gary has his sights set on Futures tournaments in Shenzhen and Korea, and the CRC Open before year's end.

"Winning local slams is obviously a very good goal for me, but I also care a lot about international tournaments. 

Whenever I can compete in Futures level tournaments, I always dream of getting my ATP ranking back."

The Hong Kong spirit isn't about never falling. It's about always getting back up. It's about resetting to 0-0, no matter what came before. Gary has been doing that for twenty years. 

He's not done yet.

The 2026 SCAA Open awaits. And Gary Yam—the closer, the coach, the warrior—is ready to show that the Hong Kong spirit never gets old.

This is the ninth feature in the SCAA Open Challengers series, profiling the athletes who define Hong Kong tennis.

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