Matt Wilkinson’s fightback after world surf tour wipeout

He’s the star who fell to earth with a splash. The one-time world title contender battling fearless teenagers in a quest to return to the top echelon of surfing he ruled just three years ago.

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He’s the star who fell to earth with a splash.

The one-time world title contender battling fearless teens in a quest to return to the top echelon of surfing he ruled just three years ago.

Matt Wilkinson, the popular court jester of the world tour, great mate to the likes of Kelly Slater and Mick Fanning and now world qualifying tour surfer.

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In a cautionary tale for his rivals, Wilkinson fell out of love with surfing as the frustration of being able to replicate his 2016 and 2017 form saw him tumble unexpectedly off the world tour last December.

Matt Wilkinson with his runners-up trophy from the Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks. Pic: Richard Gosling

It was a fall from grace which has helped reignite his competition hunger to be back on top of the world.

“I’m not finished yet,” Wilson said from his new home and business, a guesthouse and restaurant at Possum Creek near Byron Bay. “Don’t write me off just yet.’’

In 2018 Wilson says close heats repeatedly went against him and in a vicious cycle, as his world ranking dropped perilously, it became increasingly harder for him to succeed.

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The worse his results, the less he surfed at events. The less he surfed, the further he fell.

By the end of the year he had crashed down the rankings so much he had fallen out of required top 22 and off the world tour.

Now Wilkinson is plotting his return, via the rough and tumble world of the qualifying tour where he will come up against desperate and dangerous youngsters chasing their dream of being world tour surfers.

2016 finalist Matt Wilkinson of Australia advances to the semi-finals of the Outerknown Fiji Pro after defeating Julian Wilson (AUS) in quarterfinal heat 1 in excellent Cloudbreak conditions.

Surfer Matt Wilkinson now has a guesthouse and a cafe business with his partner Anna Jordan. Pic: Supplied

“I don’t think I cracked under the pressure of having the world title dangling in front of me. I felt I did everything I could but it just didn’t happen over those two years, Wilkinson said.

“I am doing the QS (qualifying series) again to push to get back on the world tour. I don’t feel like I am done yet.

“I’ll do all the big Australian qualifying series events and around the world and push against the hungry kids.

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“I want to get back on tour and fulfil the rest of my goals. Winning a world title has always been the No. 1 goal.”

Wilkinson says he now feels more grounded by having his future out of the water mapped out courtesy of his new endeavours in hospitality.

Matt Wilkinson was a regular in finals back in 2017.

“I think the business will let me enjoy my surfing and not have to worry about my life after which I had been thinking about a lot,” he said. “It will also help keep discipline in my routine.’’

Wilkinson says while it initially didn’t hurt as much as he expected when he fell off the world tour, the pain is starting to return as the 2019 men’s world tour opener at Snapper Rocks looms.

“I went into Pipe (Pipeline Masters, the 2018 world tour finale) with the mindset I was just going to do what I had to do and not fall off,’’ Wilkinson said.

“When I came in I was disappointed but not as disappointed as I expected.

“I wasn’t too sad. I was OK, even a little relived.

“But now, a few months on, the though of not surfing in the major event is starting to hurt.’’