Chris Gatt started playing tennis at the age of 9 and won his first tournament in Malta in the U12 category when he was just 11 years old. He also won his first tournament in England in the same year at Weybridge. Gatt went on to win several junior tournaments in the U12 and U14 categories in Woking, Surbiton, and Bristol. At the age of 12, he became the champion of Malta in the U14 category, and at 15, he became the junior champion of Malta in the U18 category. Gatt played for one year at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy when he was 18, and then went on to play for Ohio State University’s first team from 1986 to 1989.
Gatt represented Malta in the Davis Cup from 1985 to 1993, winning a bronze medal in the Small Nation Games in Andorra in 1989 with Daryl Delicata, and a gold medal in the Small Nation Games in 1993 with Gordon Asciak. In 1993, Gatt played against Andrei Medvedev, who was ranked no. 13 in the world, in the Davis Cup against Ukraine, losing in the third set 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, which was his best result. Gatt retired from tennis at the end of 1993,but made a comeback to play in the Davis Cup in 1995 before retiring again in the same year.