Owen Davidson

Owen Davidson

Owen Davidson (1988)
Country (sports)	Australia
Born	4 October 1943 Melbourne, Australia
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro	1969 (amateur tour from 1962)
Retired	1974
Plays	Left-handed (one-handed backhand)
Int. Tennis HoF	2010 (member page)
Singles
Career record	115–116
Highest ranking	No. 8 (1967, NY Times)[1]
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	F (1967)
Wimbledon	F (1966)
US Open	W (1973)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1967)
French Open	W (1967)
Wimbledon	W (1967, 1971, 1973, 1974)
US Open	W (1966, 1967, 1971, 1973)

Owen Keir Davidson (born 4 October 1943) is a former professional tennis player of the 1960s and 1970s.

Partnering 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.^[2][3][4]

His best grand slam singles result was at Wimbledon in 1966, when he reached the semifinals. He is also the 1972 Australian Open and the 1973 US Open men's doubles champion, partnering John Newcombe and Ken Rosewall. 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).

Grand Slam finals

Men's doubles: 6 (2–4)

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

Mixed doubles: 12 (11–1)

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

Open-era doubles titles (10)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	1969	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	John Newcombe	Pancho Gonzales Dennis Ralston	7–5, 11–13, 6–2, 6–1
Winner	2.	1969	London/Queen's Club, England	Grass	Dennis Ralston	Thomaz Koch Ove Nils Bengtson	8–6, 6–3
Runner-up	1.	1970	Rome, Italy	Clay	Bill Bowrey	Ilie Năstase Ion Ţiriac	6–0, 8–10, 3–6, 8–6, 1–6
Winner	3.	1970	Hilversum, Netherlands	Hard	Bill Bowrey	John Alexander Phil Dent	6–3, 6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	2.	1970	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard (i)	Bob Carmichael	Arthur Ashe Stan Smith	0–6, 7–5, 5–7
Winner	4.	1971	Bournemouth, England	Clay	Bill Bowrey	Patricio Cornejo Jaime Fillol	8–6, 6–2, 3–6, 4–6, 6–3
Winner	5.	1972	Australian Open, Melbourne	Grass	Ken Rosewall	Ross Case Geoff Masters	3–6, 7–6, 6–3
Runner-up	3.	1972	US Open, New York	Grass	John Newcombe	Cliff Drysdale Roger Taylor	4–6, 6–7, 4–6
Runner-up	4.	1973	Montreal, Canada	Hard	John Newcombe	Rod Laver Ken Rosewall	5–7, 6–7
Winner	6.	1973	US Open, New York	Grass	John Newcombe	Roy Emerson Rod Laver	7–5, 2–6, 7–5, 7–5
Winner	7.	1973	Chicago, US	Carpet	John Newcombe	Gerald Battrick Graham Stilwell	6–7, 7–6, 7–6
Runner-up	5.	1973	Fort Worth, US	Hard	John Newcombe	Brian Gottfried Dick Stockton	6–7, 4–6
Winner	8.	1973	London	Carpet	Mark Cox	Gerald Battrick Graham Stilwell	6–4, 8–6
Runner-up	6.	1974	Baltimore, US	Carpet	Clark Graebner	Jürgen Fassbender Karl Meiler	6–7, 5–7
Winner	9.	1974	St. Petersburg WCT, US	Hard	John Newcombe	Clark Graebner Charlie Pasarell	4–6, 6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	7.	1974	New Orleans WCT, US		John Newcombe	Robert Lutz Stan Smith	6–4, 4–6, 6–7
Winner	10.	1974	Orlando WCT, US	Hard	John Newcombe	Brian Gottfried Dick Stockton	7–6, 6–3
Runner-up	8.	1974	Charlotte, US	Clay	John Newcombe	Buster Mottram Raúl Ramírez	3–6, 6–1, 3–6
Runner-up	9.	1974	World Doubles WCT, Montreal	Carpet	John Newcombe	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	2–6, 7–6, 1–6, 2–6
Runner-up	10.	1974	Maui, US	Hard	John Newcombe	Dick Stockton Roscoe Tanner	3–6, 6–7

References

1. "Mulligan, Emerson Lead World Tennis Standing ", New York Times, 21 May 1967.
2. 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.
3. John Barrett, ed. (1993). The International Tennis Federation : World of Tennis 1993. London: Collins Willow. p. 7. ISBN 9780002185080.
4. "The First Open Makes Its Mark". Sports Illustrated. May 6, 1968.
5. The Championships, Wimbledon 2007 – Grand Slam Tennis

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