The former doubles ace steps onto the grass courts once again.

In his new line of work, Pat Galbraith creates a strategy, executes it as best he can, and should he fail, has only himself to blame.

“In my business, you’re on your own,” the 38-year-old island stock broker says. “You either sink or swim.”

His approach parallels the life he once led in professional tennis, competing at the highest levels of the game with the greatest players in the world.

In a 12-year career from 1989 to 2000, Galbraith accumulated 36 doubles titles, took home $2.4 million in prize money, won the US Open mixed doubles title twice, was a doubles finalist at Wimbledon and made the semi-finals of the Australian and French Opens.

The apogee of his career came for a few weeks in 1993, when he stood atop the tour rankings as the No. 1 doubles player in the world.

How did he get there? The same way a broker might reach his portfolio goals: a sound strategy and hard work.

“I did well in tennis not because I was the best athlete, but because I figured out how to win,” Galbraith said. “That’s the same in my business – let’s figure out a strategy on how to win, and winning is reaching your goals.”

Though many moments clearly stand out in Galbraith’s tennis career, he is most proud of longevity in a sport known for its grueling year-round touring schedule, one that often leads to career-ending injuries or mental burn-outs.

“What stands out is that I did it for 12 years,” he said. “I look back and realize how hard I trained, how hard each year was. It’s not easy. And I got to retire on my own terms.”

Galbraith left the game in 2000 when his wife, Tammy, had their first child, Ben. The family grew to four when daughter Anne arrived in 2003, and the couple sought solace outside of Seattle, ultimately choosing Bainbridge’s Wing Point neighhborhood.

“I like the lifestyle, and I feel much more relaxed living here,” Galbraith said. “It’s more of a community. You don’t get lost in the shuffle. And it’s fun to walk into town and see people.”

He has largely left the game of tennis, raising his family and working in an industry that gives him much of the competitive jolt he used to get with a racquet.

Once in awhile, he steps onto the courts at the Bainbridge Athletic Club at Meadowmeer. He has signed on as the club’s “Touring Pro,” a position that

helps with promotion.

There is one tournament, that he goes to each year – though for Galbraith, it is more of a reunion.

The most prestigious of all tournaments, the Championships of Wimbledon, holds a special place in his heart as a player, as it does for most tennis greats – save perhaps the current contingent of players who detest the tournament’s traditional grass surface.

Organizers at the All England Club hold a special age 35-and-over invitational competition each year for the pros of the past.

It’s an opportunity that Galbraith savors.

“It’s fun and it’s not too serious,” he said. “I get to go back and actually enjoy the whole Wimbledon experience.”

Not to say Galbraith didn’t enjoy it as a player – only that the stakes were high enough that not much outside of tennis ever entered his mind.

“I was there to try and win it,” he said of his playing days. “Now I get to go back and smell the roses, have fun playing on the grass. If I do well, great, if I don’t, that’s fine, too.”

Galbraith will be paired with Scott Melville at the invitational tournament, which begins Monday.

Melville, too, was a doubles specialist, winning nine career titles on the ATP tour and achieving a No. 17 world ranking in doubles. He and Galbriath have a history together, as the pair won a title in Nice, France, in 1992.

“We’re competitive, so we’ll see what happens,” Galbraith said.

Despite his departure and limited play in recent years, Galbraith doesn’t appear to have lost much in the way of technique.

He still makes it look easy on the court. His strokes are crisp and compact, a style that on tour made him largely immune to unforced errors.

In doubles – a game he mastered in part by believing the team that made fewer mistakes would win – that was likely a critical aspect of his own abilities.

Watching him hit a tennis ball, one can only imagine the countless hours he put in to develop his game.

His tennis journey began in Tacoma during summers spent at a private facility, the Tacoma Lawn Tennis Club.

He didn’t play year round until he was 14, about the time he entered high school at Bellarmine Prep.

He trained in Gig Harbor in a high-intensity program that included some of the best players in the Northwest, including Scott Shogreen, a former touring pro who went on to coach fellow Northwest tennis pro and current pro tour player Jan-Michael Gambill.

Galbraith played college tennis at UCLA from 1986-89, where he won the NCAA doubles title in 1988 with Brian Garrow and the Pac-10 singles title in 1989.

He and Garrow didn’t take long to win their first title in Newport in 1989 as well. Four years later, Galbraith was atop the tour, winning titles in Auckland, Tokyo and Antwerp, making the finals of four others – including Wimbledon – and the semi-finals of the ATP tour World Championship.

His career included three dozen doubles titles, though more prolific, he said, are the relationships and memories he has of those times. That’s what makes heading back to Wimbledon worthwhile.

“It’s fun to go back and see guys I don’t get to see the rest of the year,” Galbraith said, citing tour pros and coaches like Todd Martin, Dean Goldfine – who now coaches Andy Roddick – and David Pate. “It’s like we went to school together for 12 years. We played the same tournaments, hung out together, and some of these guys I saw more than my wife during that time.”

And the All England Club itself?

“The whole place is a big memory for me,” he said. “I’ve got memories on every court.”

Galbraith will try and get in some tennis viewing while he’s there and hopes to see Tim Henman and Roger Federer.

“I don’t know if there’s ever going to be a better player than Roger Federer,” he said. “Barring a career-ending injury, I think he’ll go down as the best player of all time.

“And If Henman were to win Wimbledon, England would go nuts.”

Henman, unfortunately, was ousted Friday. But there is one other player – or rather, type of player – he’ll keep his eye out for: those serve-and-volleying, doubles-playing pros in whom Galbraith sees a little of himself from his heyday.

“At Wimbledon I Iove watching the serve-and-volleyers,” he said, “because they’re a dying breed.”

* * * * *

Doubles, anyone?

Pat Galbraith, Bainbridge resident, former No. 1 doubles tennis player in the world and Bainbridge Athletic Club’s touring pro, offered these tips to aspiring islanders looking to improve their own doubles games:

1. Prepare for each match. Galbraith said players need to do more with their time prior to each time they play competitively. What are you going to eat? Will you warm up beforehand? “Give yourself time to think about the match, time to eat, get prepared,” he said. “You’re going to play better.”

2. Get the ball in play. Doubles is a game that’s won off of opponent’s mistakes, Galbraith said, and although it sounds simple, “the more times you get the ball in play, the better off you’re gonna be.”

3. Find a partner you “gel” with. A good doubles tandem utilizes strengths from each individual, but not always both players. A balance is needed. For instance, a solid duo will have one player with a strong serve and one with a strong return. “If you have two big serves, but can’t get a return in play, you’re in jeopardy,” he said. “If you have two big returners, but no serve, you’re in the same situation.”

4. Work smarter, not harder. Galbraith, one of the hardest working players during his time on tour, insists that training must have a purpose. “(Jimmy) Connors used to only practice once a day,” he said. “I wasn’t that efficient, but I knew what I needed to work on, and I would take my weakness and make it as strong as I could. “And then I would find another weakness and try to build that up.”