Owen Davidson

Owen Keir Davidson (4 October 1943 – 12 May 2023) was an Australian professional tennis player of the 1960s and 1970s.

Owen Davidson

Davidson in 1988
Country (sports)	Australia
Born	(1943-10-04)4 October 1943 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died	12 May 2023(2023-05-12) (aged 79) Conroe, Texas, U.S.
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro	1969 (amateur from 1962)
Retired	1974
Plays	Left-handed (one-handed backhand)
Int. Tennis HoF	2010 (member page)
Singles
Career record	403-253 (61.4%) ^[1]
Career titles	7 ^[2]
Highest ranking	No. 8 (1967, The New York Times)^[3]
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	QF (1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967)
French Open	QF (1967)
Wimbledon	SF (1966)
US Open	QF (1966, 1967)
Professional majors
US Pro	SF (1967)
Doubles
Career record	127–65
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	W (1972)
French Open	3T (1968)
Wimbledon	F (1966)
US Open	W (1973)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open	W (1965, 1967)
French Open	W (1967)
Wimbledon	W (1967, 1971, 1973, 1974)
US Open	W (1966, 1967, 1971, 1973)

Alongside Billie Jean King, Davidson won eight grand slam mixed doubles titles. In 1967 he won a calendar year slam for mixed doubles, when he won the Australian Championships (with Lesley Turner Bowrey), and the French Championships, Wimbledon and the US Championships (with King).

Davidson became the first player to win a match in the open era of tennis when he defeated John Clifton in the first round of the British Hard Court Championships in Bournemouth played in April 1968.^[4][5][6]

His best grand slam singles result was at Wimbledon in 1966, when he reached the semifinals (beating top seed Roy Emerson before losing to Manuel Santana).^[7] He was also the 1972 Australian Open and the 1973 US Open men's doubles champion, partnering John Newcombe and Ken Rosewall respectively. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 2010. He was inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on 26 January 2011 (Australia Day).

Davidson died in Conroe, Texas, on 12 May 2023, at the age of 79.^[8][9]

Grand Slam finals

Men's doubles: 6 (2–4)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1966	Wimbledon	Grass	Bill Bowrey	Ken Fletcher   John Newcombe	3–6, 4–6, 6–3, 3–6
Loss	1967	Australian Championships	Grass	Bill Bowrey	John Newcombe   Tony Roche	6–3, 3–6, 5–7, 8–6, 6–8
Loss	1967	US Championships	Grass	Bill Bowrey	John Newcombe   Tony Roche	8–6, 7–9, 3–6, 3–6
Win	1972	Australian Open	Grass	Ken Rosewall	Ross Case   Geoff Masters	3–6, 7–6, 6–3
Loss	1972	US Open (2)	Grass	John Newcombe	Cliff Drysdale   Roger Taylor	4–6, 6–7, 3–6
Win	1973	US Open	Grass	John Newcombe	Rod Laver   Ken Rosewall	7–5, 2–6, 7–5, 7–5

Mixed doubles: 12 (11–1)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1965	Australian Championships	Grass	Robyn Ebbern	Margaret Smith   John Newcombe	shared, final not played
Win	1966	US Championships	Grass	Donna Floyd Fales	Carol Hanks Aucamp   Ed Rubinoff	6–1, 6–3
Win	1967	Australian Championships (2)	Grass	Lesley Turner Bowrey	Judy Tegart-Dalton   Tony Roche	9–7, 6–4
Win	1967	French Championships	Clay	Billie Jean King	Ann Haydon-Jones   Ion Țiriac	6–3, 6–1
Win	1967	Wimbledon^[10]	Grass	Billie Jean King	Maria Bueno   Ken Fletcher	7–5, 6–2
Win	1967	US Championships (2)	Grass	Billie Jean King	Rosemary Casals   Stan Smith	6–3, 6–2
Loss	1968	French Open	Clay	Billie Jean King	Françoise Dürr   Jean-Claude Barclay	1–6, 4–6
Win	1971	Wimbledon (2)	Grass	Billie Jean King	Margaret Court   Marty Riessen	3–6, 6–2, 15–13
Win	1971	US Open (3)	Grass	Billie Jean King	Bob Maud   Betty Stöve	6–3, 7–5
Win	1973	Wimbledon (3)	Grass	Billie Jean King	Janet Newberry   Raúl Ramírez	6–3, 6–2
Win	1973	US Open (4)	Grass	Billie Jean King	Margaret Court   Marty Riessen	6–3, 3–6, 7–6
Win	1974	Wimbledon (4)	Grass	Billie Jean King	Lesley Charles   Mark Farrell	6–3, 9–7

Career finals

Open-era doubles (10 wins, 10 losses)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	1969	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	John Newcombe	Pancho Gonzales   Dennis Ralston	7–5, 11–13, 6–2, 6–1
Win	2.	1969	London/Queen's Club, England	Grass	Dennis Ralston	Thomaz Koch   Ove Nils Bengtson	8–6, 6–3
Loss	1.	1970	Rome, Italy	Clay	Bill Bowrey	Ilie Năstase   Ion Țiriac	6–0, 8–10, 3–6, 8–6, 1–6
Win	3.	1970	Hilversum, Netherlands	Hard	Bill Bowrey	John Alexander   Phil Dent	6–3, 6–4, 6–2
Loss	2.	1970	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard (i)	Bob Carmichael	Arthur Ashe   Stan Smith	0–6, 7–5, 5–7
Win	4.	1971	Bournemouth, England	Clay	Bill Bowrey	Patricio Cornejo   Jaime Fillol	8–6, 6–2, 3–6, 4–6, 6–3
Win	5.	1972	Australian Open, Melbourne	Grass	Ken Rosewall	Ross Case   Geoff Masters	3–6, 7–6, 6–3
Loss	3.	1972	US Open, New York	Grass	John Newcombe	Cliff Drysdale   Roger Taylor	4–6, 6–7, 4–6
Loss	4.	1973	Montreal, Canada	Hard	John Newcombe	Rod Laver   Ken Rosewall	5–7, 6–7
Win	6.	1973	US Open, New York	Grass	John Newcombe	Roy Emerson   Rod Laver	7–5, 2–6, 7–5, 7–5
Win	7.	1973	Chicago, US	Carpet	John Newcombe	Gerald Battrick   Graham Stilwell	6–7, 7–6, 7–6
Loss	5.	1973	Fort Worth, US	Hard	John Newcombe	Brian Gottfried   Dick Stockton	6–7, 4–6
Win	8.	1973	London	Carpet	Mark Cox	Gerald Battrick   Graham Stilwell	6–4, 8–6
Loss	6.	1974	Baltimore, US	Carpet	Clark Graebner	Jürgen Fassbender   Karl Meiler	6–7, 5–7
Win	9.	1974	St. Petersburg WCT, US	Hard	John Newcombe	Clark Graebner   Charlie Pasarell	4–6, 6–3, 6–4
Loss	7.	1974	New Orleans WCT, US		John Newcombe	Robert Lutz   Stan Smith	6–4, 4–6, 6–7
Win	10.	1974	Orlando WCT, US	Clay	John Newcombe	Brian Gottfried   Dick Stockton	7–6, 6–3
Loss	8.	1974	Charlotte, US	Clay	John Newcombe	Buster Mottram   Raúl Ramírez	3–6, 6–1, 3–6
Loss	9.	1974	World Doubles WCT, Montreal	Carpet	John Newcombe	Bob Hewitt   Frew McMillan	2–6, 7–6, 1–6, 2–6
Loss	10.	1974	Maui, US	Hard	John Newcombe	Dick Stockton   Roscoe Tanner	3–6, 6–7

References

1. "Owen Davidson: Career Match Record". app.thetennisbase.com. Tennismem SAL. 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
2. "Owen Davidson: Career Match Record". app.thetennisbase.com. Tennismem SAL. 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
3. "Mulligan, Emerson Lead World Tennis Standing", New York Times, May 21, 1967
4. Collins, Bud (2010). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book (2nd ed.). New York: New Chapter Press. pp. 144, 145. ISBN 9780942257700.
5. John Barrett, ed. (1993). The International Tennis Federation : World of Tennis 1993. London: Collins Willow. p. 7. ISBN 9780002185080.
6. "The First Open Makes Its Mark". Sports Illustrated. 6 May 1968.
7. "Wimbledon 1966". www.tennis.co.nf.
8. Drucker, Joel. "2010 Hall of Fame Inductee Owen Davidson dies at 79". tennis.com. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
9. "Australian tennis player Owen Davidson, who won 13 Grand Slam doubles titles, dies at 79". Associated Press. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
10. . Archived from the original on 5 September 2009. Retrieved 6 May 2007.

External links

• Owen Davidson at the International Tennis Hall of Fame  
• Owen Davidson at the Association of Tennis Professionals  
• Owen Davidson at the International Tennis Federation  
• Owen Davidson at Tennis Australia