 Bill Bowrey at the 1970 Dutch Open | |
| Full name | William Walter Bowrey |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) | Australia |
| Residence | Victoria, Australia |
| Born | (1943-12-25)25 December 1943 (age 81) Sydney, Australia |
| Turned pro | 1968(amateur tour from 1962) |
| Retired | 1975 |
| Plays | Right-handed (1-handed backhand) |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 450–274 |
| Career titles | 21 |
| Highest ranking | No. 8 (1967,The New York Times)[1] |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Australian Open | W (1968) |
| French Open | 3R (1965,1971) |
| Wimbledon | 4R (1966) |
| US Open | QF (1966) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 89–60 (Open era atGrand Slam,Grand Prix andWCT level, and inDavis Cup) |
| Career titles | 5 |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| Australian Open | F (1967) |
| French Open | QF (1969, 1971) |
| Wimbledon | F (1966) |
| US Open | F (1967) |
| Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |
| Australian Open | F (1966) |
William Bowrey (born 25 December 1943) is a former Australian tennis player. He was ranked world No. 8 in 1967.
Bowrey was born in Sydney, Australia and is best remembered as the last amateur to win theAustralian Championships in1968[2] before the tournament opened itself to professional tennis players in 1969.
Bowrey reached the quarterfinal of the Australian (international amateur) Championships in 1965 (losing toJohn Newcombe), 1966 (losing toRoy Emerson) and 1967 (losing to Emerson) and the US Open quarters in 1966 (losing toManuel Santana).
In 1966 he won the Sydney Metropolitan Grass Court Championships defeatingPhil Dent,Dick Crealy, andTony Roche in the final.
He won the 1967Newport Casino Invitational title defeatingRay Moore,Tom Gorman, andOwen Davidson in the final.
At the 1967 US Open doubles, Bowrey and partnerOwen Davidson lost the final to Newcombe and Roche in four sets.[3]
Bowrey was ranked world No. 8 in 1967 by theNew York Times.[4]
At the end of 1967, Newcombe and Roche had signed professional contracts. Emerson, Santana and other European stars decided not to play in the 1968 Australian Championships (Emerson would turn pro on April 1, 1968), andArthur Ashe,Clark Graebner,Stan Smith andCliff Richey did not make the trip to Melbourne for the Australian Championships.Manuel Orantes andJuan Gisbert, who had played with Santana on the Spanish Davis Cup team in the Davis Cup Challenge Round in Australia at the end of 1967, decided to stay on and play at Melbourne. This reduced the quality of the field lined up for the 1968 Australian championships, which were held at Melbourne's historicKooyong Lawn Tennis Club. Bowrey was the top seed.[5] He defeatedMike Belkin in the quarterfinal andBarry Phillips-Moore in the semi-final. In the final Bowrey met Gisbert, ranked world No. 14, winning in four sets. A month after his Australian triumph Bowrey married the Australian women's playerLesley Turner, herself also a major champion, winner of the 1963French Championships.
The game went open in April that year and in May Bowrey won the Atlanta Invitation defeatingRon Holmberg in the final.
At the first Open Wimbledon Bowrey lost in the second round toAndrés Gimeno. Defending his Australian title the following year Bowrey defeatedPancho Gonzales in the third round to reach the quarterfinals where he lost a two sets to love lead againstRay Ruffels.
Bowrey represented Australia in twoDavis Cup rounds, the first against the U.S. in the World Group Final inDecember 1968, where he lost toClark Graebner in five sets and defeatedArthur Ashe in four sets. The second in the North & Central America draw inMay 1969 versus Mexico, where he won againstJoaquín Loyo-Mayo and lost toRafael Osuna.[6]
Bowrey was also involved in one of the longest matches in tennis history atWimbledon in 1970 againstPatricio Cornejo that consumed nearly four hours[2] and took 84 games.[7] In January 1970 Bowrey turned professional which meant he was no longer eligible to play in the Davis Cup.[8] Later that year Bowrey with partnerMarty Riessen won theRogers Cup (formerly Canadian Open)[9] in two sets againstFred Stolle andCliff Drysdale. He also won the Rome ATP World Tour Masters – Doubles that year withOwen Davidson.
Bowrey had married fellow tennis professionalLesley Turner in 1968 and went into semi-retirement in 1972 at the age of just 28, becoming a coach. After their playing careers were over, Bowrey and his wife Lesley became the lead match-play commentators at Wimbledon on the All-England Club's radio station and Internet Web site "Radio Wimbledon."
In February 1974, Bowrey won the New South Wales Hardcourt Championships, defeatingMark Edmondson in the semi-final and Stolle in the final in a close match.[10]
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1968 | Australian Championships | Grass |  Juan Gisbert Sr. | 7–5, 2–6, 9–7, 6–4 |
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 1966 | Wimbledon | Grass |  Owen Davidson | Ken FletcherJohn Newcombe | 3–6, 4–6, 6–3, 3–6 |
| Loss | 1967 | Australian Championships | Grass | Owen Davidson | John NewcombeTony Roche | 6–3, 3–6, 5–7, 8–6, 6–8 |
| Loss | 1967 | U.S. Championships | Grass | Owen Davidson | John Newcombe Tony Roche | 8–6, 7–9, 3–6, 3–6 |
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
| Tournament | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | 2R | 2R | 3R | QF | QF | QF | W | QF | 3R | 1R | A | 1R | A | 2R | A | A | 1 / 12 |
| French Open | A | A | 2R | 3R | 1R | 2R | A | 2R | A | 3R | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 5 |
| Wimbledon | 2R | A | 1R | 1R | 4R | 3R | 2R | 3R | 2R | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | Q2 | 0 / 9 |
| US Open | A | A | 4R | A | QF | 4R | A | 3R | 3R | 3R | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 6 |
| Strike rate | 0 / 2 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 1 / 2 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 1 / 32 |
