Owen Davidson

Owen Davidson
	Davidson in 1988
Country (sports)	Australia
Born	4 October 1943; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died	12 May 2023 (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	80–107
Highest ranking	No. 8 (1967, The New York Times)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	QF (1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967)
French Open	QF (1967)
Wimbledon	SF (1966)
US Open	QF (1966, 1967)
Other tournaments
	Professional majors
US Pro	SF (1967)
Doubles
Career record	127–65
Career titles	10
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	W (1972)
French Open	3R (1968)
Wimbledon	F (1966)
US Open	W (1973)
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)

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

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.

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). 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.

Grand Slam finals

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	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	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

Open Era career finals

Doubles: 21 (10 wins / 11 losses)

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