Roger Taylor (tennis)

For other people with the same name, see Roger Taylor.

Roger Taylor MBE (born 14 October 1941) is a British former tennis player. Born in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire. He achieved success at several Grand Slam tournaments, reaching the quarter-finals of the French Open in 1973, the semi-finals of Wimbledon during the same year and winning back to back US Open men's doubles titles in 1971 and 1972. He also enjoyed particular success in 1970, again reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon, where he achieved a big upset win over defending champion Rod Laver en route, and the semi-finals of the Australian Open. Taylor also reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 1967. His career-high ranking was world No. 7 in 1967, though Taylor was also ranked world No. 8 in 1970 before the ATP rankings began.

Roger Taylor
MBE

Roger Taylor at the 1969 Dutch Open
Country (sports)	United Kingdom
Residence	Wimbledon, London, England
Born	(1941-10-14) 14 October 1941 Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Turned pro	1967 (amateur from 1958)
Retired	1982
Plays	Left-handed (one-handed backhand)
Singles
Career record	776–489
Career titles	31
Highest ranking	No. 8 (1970, Lance Tingay)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	SF (1970)
French Open	QF (1973)
Wimbledon	SF (1967, 1970, 1973)
US Open	QF (1964)
Other tournaments
WCT Finals	QF (1973)
Doubles
Career record	189–140
Career titles	10
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	QF (1962)
French Open	3R (1963)
Wimbledon	QF (1968, 1969, 1973)
US Open	W (1971, 1972)

He was active from 1958 to 1982 and won 31 career singles titles, of those toward the end of his career included 6 Grand Prix tour singles titles and 10 doubles titles.

He was also ranked British No 1 1973 and 1974. Additionally, Taylor scored 29 wins and 11 losses at the Great Britain Davis Cup team. He is a member of the AELTC.

Tennis career

He played his first singles tournament at the South of France Championships in 1958. He won his first singles title in 1959 at the Lee-on-Solent Open. Taylor was the sole British member of the so-called Handsome Eight signed by Lamar Hunt to compete in his newly created World Championship Tennis tour in 1968. He was shown how to play tennis by his mother, Lilian, and he used to play in the various parks across Sheffield, such as Weston Park. He often practised by hitting a tennis ball against a wall.

Taylor endeared himself to millions of viewers during his 1973 Wimbledon quarterfinal match against the 17-year-old Wimbledon debutant Björn Borg. Having already been declared the match winner by the umpire following his match-point serve which was disputed by Borg, Taylor voluntarily offered to replay the point. The linesman then questioned by the umpire as to whether he wished to reconsider his decision, changed his "in" call to "out" and the umpire requested that the point be replayed as a "let". Taylor subsequently went on to win the match, but lost to eventual champion Jan Kodeš in the semifinals. He won his final singles title at the Fairfield Open Indoors in March 1975.

He played his final singles tournament at the Caribbean Championships in 1982. He retired from professional tennis in 1983 and following his retirement he operated tennis holidays. He was Great Britain's Davis Cup captain from February 2000 until January 2004. Taylor also captained the British ladies Wightman Cup team; steering them to their last victory in the competition in 1978. He was awarded an MBE in the 1977 Silver Jubilee and Birthday Honours.

He is currently active on the ITF Seniors Tour and has a singles ranking of 54 as at 2020 in the over 75's category. He won the 70+ title at Woking's Veterans Open Tournament in 2012. In 2019, he teamed up with Australia's Gordon Waygood to win the Men's 75 Doubles title at the British Open Seniors Clay Court Championships.

Grand Slam finals

Doubles (2 titles)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1971	US Open	Grass	John Newcombe	Stan Smith Erik van Dillen	6–7, 6–3, 7–6, 4–6, 7–6
Win	1972	US Open	Grass	Cliff Drysdale	Owen Davidson John Newcombe	6–4, 7–6, 6–3

Career finals

Singles (Open era): 19 (9 titles, 10 runner-ups)

Finals by surface
Hard (4–2)
Grass (2–3)
Clay (1–3)
Carpet (2–2)

Result	No.	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1.	1968	Port Elizabeth WCT, South Africa	Hard	Tony Roche	10–8
Loss	1.	1969	Hilversum, Netherlands	Clay	Tom Okker	8–10, 9–7, 4–6, 4–6
Loss	2.	1969	Madrid, Spain	Carpet	Rod Laver	3–6, 3–6
Win	2.	1970	Auckland, New Zealand	Grass	Tom Okker	6–4, 6–4, 6–1
Loss	3.	1970	Leicester, England	Grass	Tom Okker	1–6, 8–10
Loss	4.	1970	Hilversum, Netherlands	Clay	Tom Okker	6–4, 0–6, 1–6, 3–6
Loss	5.	1970	Toronto, Canada	Clay	Rod Laver	0–6, 6–4, 3–6
Win	3.	1970	Midland, U.S.	Hard	John Newcombe	2–6, 7–6, 6–1
Win	4.	1971	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Pierre Barthès	6–3, 4–6, 7–6, 6–2
Loss	6.	1971	Newport, U.S.	Grass	Ken Rosewall	1–6, 8–9
Win	5.	1972	Haverford, U.S.	Hard	Mal Anderson	6–4, 6–0, 6–4
Win	6.	1973	Copenhagen, Denmark	Hard	Marty Riessen	6–2, 6–3, 7–6
Loss	7.	1973	Chicago WCT, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Arthur Ashe	6–3, 6–7, 6–7
Loss	8.	1973	San Juan, Puerto Rico	Hard	Alex Metreveli	4–6, 4–6, 6–0, 5–7
Loss	9.	1973	Cleveland WCT, U.S.	Hard	Ken Rosewall	3–6, 4–6
Loss	10.	1973	Queen's Club, England	Grass	Ilie Năstase	8–9, 3–6
Win	7.	1973	Newport, U.S.	Grass	Bob Giltinan	9–8, 8–6
Win	8.	1975	Roanoke, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Vitas Gerulaitis	7–6, 7–6
Win	9.	1975	Fairfield, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Sandy Mayer	7–5, 5–7, 7–6

Doubles titles: Open era (8)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponent	Score
1.	Jan 1969	Hobart	Grass	Mal Anderson	Tony Roche Fred Stolle	7–5, 6–3, 4–6, 1–6, 6–4
2.	Feb 1969	Auckland	Grass	Ray Moore	Mal Anderson Toomas Leius	13–15, 6–3, 8–6, 8–6
3.	Aug 1969	Hilversum	Unknown	Tom Okker	Jan Kodeš Jan Kukal	6–3, 6–2, 6–4
4.	Jul 1971	Newport	Grass	Ken Rosewall	John Clifton John Paish	7–5, 3–6, 6–2
5.	Sep 1971	US Open	Grass	John Newcombe	Stan Smith Erik van Dillen	6–7, 6–3, 7–6, 4–6, 7–6
6.	Sep 1972	US Open	Grass	Cliff Drysdale	Owen Davidson John Newcombe	6–4, 7–6, 6–3
7.	Apr 1973	Vancouver	Unknown	Pierre Barthès	Tom Gorman Erik van Dillen	5–7, 6–3, 7–6
8.	Jul 1977	Kitzbühel	Clay	Buster Mottram	Colin Dowdeswell Chris Kachel	7–6, 6–4

External links

• Roger Taylor at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Roger Taylor at the International Tennis Federation
• Roger Taylor at the Davis Cup