Roger Dowdeswell (born 16 February 1944) is a former professional
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player from
Zimbabwe
file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map
Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
. He is the elder brother of
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, and who achieved rank as UK No. 1. During his time on the world tour, he won one sing ...
.
Playing career
Dowdeswell made the second round of all four
Grand Slam
Grand Slam or Grand slam may refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category terminology originating in contract bridge and other whist card games
Athletics
* Grand Slam Track, professional track and field league
Auto racing
* ...
tournaments during his career.
He played
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
tennis for
Rhodesia
Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...
in 1965, against
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
. In his singles rubbers he lost to
Boro Jovanović
Boro Jovanović (21 October 1939 – 19 December 2023) was a Yugoslav and Croatian tennis player. Jovanović was runner-up in the 1962 Wimbledon Championships, 1962 Wimbledon doubles tournament with Nikola Pilić, and quarter-finalist in the 196 ...
and
Niki Pilic, the same two that would beat he and Roy Stilwell in the doubles.
Coaching
Dowdeswell, who is now the Tennis Director of the Manhattan Plaza Racquet Club, has coached the American and New Zealand junior Davis Cup teams.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dowdeswell, Roger
1944 births
Living people
Rhodesian male tennis players
Zimbabwean male tennis players
Sportspeople from Nairobi