Colin Dowdeswell

Colin Dowdeswell (born 12 May 1955 in London, England), is a former professional tennis player who represented, at different times, Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.^[1] During his time on the world tour, he won 1 singles titles and 11 doubles titles.^[2] Perhaps the highlight of his career was reaching the men's doubles final of Wimbledon.

Tennis career highlights

Partnering Australian Allan Stone, Dowdeswell finished runner-up in doubles at Wimbledon in 1975. Unseeded, after two straight sets wins, they defeated the No. 7 seeds Tom Okker and Marty Riessen in the round of sixteen in four sets. They did likewise in eliminating the No. 3 seeds, Bob Hewitt and Frew McMillan, in the quarterfinals. It took Dowdeswell and Stone then five sets to overcome the unseeded team of Dick Crealy and Niki Pilic in the semi-finals. They lost the final to another unseeded tandem,Vitas Gerulaitis and Sandy Mayer, 5-7, 6-8, 4-6.^[3]

Dowdeswell achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 31 in 1983 and a career-high doubles ranking of World No. 24 in 1980.^[2]

Grand Prix and WCT singles finals (4)

Titles (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1975	Istanbul, Turkey	Outdoor	Ferdi Taygan	6–1, 6–4, 6–2

Runner-ups (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1974	Dublin, Ireland	Outdoor	Sherwood Stewart	3–6, 8–9
2.	1978	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Cliff Richey	2–6, 4–6
3.	1983	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Johan Kriek	4–6, 6–4, 6–1, 5–7, 3–6

Grand Slam, Grand Prix, and WCT doubles finals (28)

Titles (11)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1974	Dublin, Ireland	Outdoor	John Yuill	Lito Álvarez Jorge Andrew	6–3, 6–2
2.	1978	Sarasota, U.S.	Carpet	Geoff Masters	Byron Bertram Bernard Mitton	2–6, 6–3, 6–2
3.	1978	Berlin, Germany	Clay	Jürgen Fassbender	Željko Franulović Hans Gildemeister	6–3, 6–4
4.	1979	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Heinz Günthardt	Raymond Moore Ilie Năstase	6–3, 7–6
5.	1979	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Frew McMillan	Wojtek Fibak Pavel Složil	6–4, 6–2, 2–6, 6–4
6.	1980	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Ismail El Shafei	Mark Edmondson Kim Warwick	6–4, 6–4
7.	1980	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Frew McMillan	Chris Lewis John Yuill	6–3, 6–4
8.	1983	Tel Aviv, Israel	Hard	Zoltan Kuharszky	Peter Elter Peter Feigl	6–4, 7–5
9.	1985	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Joakim Nyström	Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez	6–4, 6–7, 7–6
10.	1985	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Christo van Rensburg	Amos Mansdorf Shahar Perkiss	3–6, 7–6, 6–4
11.	1986	Milan, Italy	Carpet	Christo Steyn	Brian Levine Laurie Warder	6–3, 4–6, 6–1

Runner-ups (17)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1975	Birmingham, U.S.	Carpet	John Yuill	Jürgen Fassbender Karl Meiler	1–6, 6–3, 6–7
2.	1975	Wimbledon, London	Grass	Allan Stone	Vitas Gerulaitis Sandy Mayer	5–7, 6–8, 4–6
3.	1975	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Ken Rosewall	Jürgen Fassbender Hans-Jürgen Pohmann	4–6, 7–9, 1–6
4.	1975	Istanbul, Turkey	Outdoor	John Feaver	Colin Dibley Thomaz Koch	2–6, 2–6, 2–6
5.	1976	Nuremberg, Germany	Carpet	Peter Kronk	Frew McMillan Karl Meiler	6–7, 4–6
6.	1976	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Peter Kronk	Wojtek Fibak Jacek Niedzwiedzki	2–6, 3–6
7.	1976	Cologne, Germany	Carpet	Mike Estep	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	1–6, 6–3, 6–7
8.	1977	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Bob Hewitt	Jürgen Fassbender Karl Meiler	4–6, 6–7
9.	1977	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Chris Kachel	Buster Mottram Roger Taylor	6–7, 4–6
10.	1978	Lagos, Nigeria	Clay	Jürgen Fassbender	George Hardie Sashi Menon	3–6, 6–3, 5–7
11.	1978	Toronto, Canada	Clay	Heinz Günthardt	Wojtek Fibak Tom Okker	3–6, 6–7
12.	1980	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Heinz Günthardt	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	4–6, 3–6
13.	1983	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Wojtek Fibak	Pavel Složil Tomáš Šmíd	7–6, 4–6, 2–6
14.	1983	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Zoltan Kuharszky	Wojtek Fibak Pavel Složil	5–7, 2–6
15.	1984	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Wojtek Fibak	Henri Leconte Pascal Portes	6–2, 6–7, 6–7
16.	1984	Tel Aviv, Israel	Hard	Jakob Hlasek	Peter Doohan Brian Levine	3–6, 4–6
17.	1986	Nice, France	Clay	Gary Donnelly	Jakob Hlasek Pavel Složil	3–6, 6–4, 9–11

Davis Cup

Dowdeswell participated in one Davis Cup tie for Rhodesia in 1976, posting a 2–0 record in singles and an 0–1 record in doubles. He participated in six Davis Cup ties for the Great Britain from 1984 to 1986, posting an 0–2 record in singles and a 5–1 record in doubles.

Life outside of tennis

Dowdeswell completed his tennis career in 1986 and began a successful career in Financial Services and Private Banking with Merrill Lynch.^[2] Married with three children,^[2] he currently resides in Monaco^{[citation needed]}. He has also resided in Wimbledon.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "ITF Men's Circuit Biography of Colin Dowdeswell". ITF Tennis. http://www.itftennis.com/mens/players/player.asp?player=10002233. Retrieved 19 October 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} "ATP.com Colin Dowdeswell profile". ATP.com. http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Do/C/Colin-Dowdeswell.aspx. Retrieved 20 October 2011. 
3. ^ "1975 Wimbledon Men's Doubles drawsheet". ATP.com. http://www.atpworldtour.com/Share/Event-Draws.aspx?e=540&y=1975&t=d. Retrieved 20 October 2011. 

External links

• Colin Dowdeswell at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Colin Dowdeswell at the International Tennis Federation
• Colin Dowdeswell at the Davis Cup
• http://colindowdeswell.com/

Persondata
Name	Dowdeswell, Colin
Alternative names
Short description	Tennis player
Date of birth	12 May 1955
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death