Colin Dowdeswell

Colin Dowdeswell (born 12 May 1955) is a former professional tennis player who represented, at different times, Rhodesia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom,^[1] and who achieved rank as UK No. 1. During his time on the world tour, he won one singles title and eleven doubles titles.^[2] The highlight of his career was reaching the men's doubles final of Wimbledon.

Colin Dowdeswell

Colin Dowdeswell (1983)
Country (sports)	Rhodesia (1972–1976)  Switzerland (1977–1981)  United Kingdom (1982–1986)
Born	(1955-05-12) 12 May 1955 (age 70) London, England
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Plays	Right-handed
Prize money	$327,277
Singles
Career record	113–171
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 31 (12 December 1983)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	2R (1984)
French Open	2R (1977, 1978, 1979)
Wimbledon	2R (1977, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1986)
US Open	4R (1976, 1978)
Doubles
Career record	216–162
Career titles	11
Highest ranking	No. 24 (24 March 1980)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	3R (1984, 1985)
French Open	QF (1977)
Wimbledon	F (1975)
US Open	SF (1976)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
French Open	F (1976)
Wimbledon	QF (1976, 1980)
US Open	SF (1984)

Early life

Dowdeswell was born in London but grew up in Rhodesia. He was educated at Prince Edward School and The University of the Witswatersrand.^[3] He also received an MBA at Insead business school in 1987.

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 16 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 semifinals. They lost the final to another unseeded tandem, Vitas Gerulaitis and Sandy Mayer, 5–7, 6–8, 4–6.^[4]

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]

Career finals

Grand Prix and WCT finals (4)

Singles: 4 (1 title)

Result	W–L	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	1974	Dublin, Ireland	Hard	Sherwood Stewart	3–6, 8–9
Win	1–1	1975	Istanbul, Turkey	Clay	Ferdi Taygan	6–1, 6–4, 6–2
Loss	1–2	1978	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Cliff Richey	2–6, 4–6
Loss	1–3	1983	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Johan Kriek	4–6, 6–4, 6–1, 5–7, 3–6

Grand Slam, Grand Prix, and WCT finals

Doubles: 28 (11 titles)

Result	No.	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	1974	Dublin, Ireland	Hard	John Yuill	Lito Álvarez Jorge Andrew	6–3, 6–2
Loss	1.	1975	Birmingham, U.S.	Carpet (i)	John Yuill	Jürgen Fassbender Karl Meiler	1–6, 6–3, 6–7
Loss	2.	1975	Wimbledon, London	Grass	Allan Stone	Vitas Gerulaitis Sandy Mayer	5–7, 6–8, 4–6
Loss	3.	1975	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Ken Rosewall	Jürgen Fassbender Hans-Jürgen Pohmann	4–6, 7–9, 1–6
Loss	4.	1975	Istanbul, Turkey	Clay	John Feaver	Colin Dibley Thomaz Koch	2–6, 2–6, 2–6
Loss	5.	1976	Nuremberg, Germany	Carpet (i)	Paul Kronk	Frew McMillan Karl Meiler	6–7, 4–6
Loss	6.	1976	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Paul Kronk	Wojciech Fibak Jacek Niedźwiedzki	2–6, 3–6
Loss	7.	1976	Cologne, Germany	Carpet (i)	Mike Estep	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	1–6, 6–3, 6–7
Loss	8.	1977	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Bob Hewitt	Jürgen Fassbender Karl Meiler	4–6, 6–7
Loss	9.	1977	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Chris Kachel	Buster Mottram Roger Taylor	6–7, 4–6
Win	2.	1978	Sarasota, U.S.	Carpet	Geoff Masters	Byron Bertram Bernard Mitton	2–6, 6–3, 6–2
Loss	10.	1978	Lagos, Nigeria	Clay	Jürgen Fassbender	George Hardie Sashi Menon	3–6, 6–3, 5–7
Win	3.	1978	Berlin, Germany	Clay	Jürgen Fassbender	Željko Franulović Hans Gildemeister	6–3, 6–4
Loss	11.	1978	Toronto, Canada	Clay	Heinz Günthardt	Wojciech Fibak Tom Okker	3–6, 6–7
Win	4.	1979	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Heinz Günthardt	Raymond Moore Ilie Năstase	6–3, 7–6
Win	5.	1979	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Frew McMillan	Wojciech Fibak Pavel Složil	6–4, 6–2, 2–6, 6–4
Loss	12.	1980	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Heinz Günthardt	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	4–6, 3–6
Win	6.	1980	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Ismail El Shafei	Mark Edmondson Kim Warwick	6–4, 6–4
Win	7.	1980	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Frew McMillan	Chris Lewis John Yuill	6–3, 6–4
Loss	13.	1983	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Wojciech Fibak	Pavel Složil Tomáš Šmíd	7–6, 4–6, 2–6
Loss	14.	1983	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Zoltán Kuhárszky	Wojciech Fibak Pavel Složil	5–7, 2–6
Win	8.	1983	Tel Aviv, Israel	Hard	Zoltán Kuhárszky	Peter Elter Peter Feigl	6–4, 7–5
Loss	15.	1984	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Wojciech Fibak	Henri Leconte Pascal Portes	6–2, 6–7, 6–7
Loss	16.	1984	Tel Aviv, Israel	Hard	Jakob Hlasek	Peter Doohan Brian Levine	3–6, 4–6
Win	9.	1985	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Joakim Nyström	Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez	6–4, 6–7, 7–6
Win	10.	1985	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Christo van Rensburg	Amos Mansdorf Shahar Perkiss	3–6, 7–6, 6–4
Win	11.	1986	Milan, Italy	Carpet (i)	Christo Steyn	Brian Levine Laurie Warder	6–3, 4–6, 6–1
Loss	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 Great Britain from 1984 to 1986, posting an 0–2 record in singles and a 5–1 record in doubles.

Life outside tennis

Dowdeswell completed his tennis career in 1986 and began a career in financial services and private banking with Merrill Lynch.^[2] Married with three children,^[2] he resides in Monaco.