Andrew Nicholas Castle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Castle

Andrew Nicholas Castle (born 15 November 1963) is an English retired tennis professional, former British No. 1, and now a television presenter.

Biography

Castle was born in Epsom, Surrey. His mother, Lavinia Pollock (born Kathleen Mary, great-grandchild of Annie Besant), was adopted shortly after her birth. She married Frank Castle in April 1953. The couple had five children: James; Richard; David; Fiona; and Andrew, who was born in 1963.

Castle's father ran the fishmongers in Westerham, Kent, where his customers included the lady of nearby Chartwell House, Winston Churchill's wife Clementine. He went on to own shops in North Cheam; Norbury; Stoneleigh, Surrey; and owned a fish and chip shop in Taunton, Somerset (Kingston Road).

He plays guitar in his spare time and loves Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.

Tennis career

At the age of nine, Andrew was asked by a friend to come and play tennis: "I can remember every detail about the day, from the feel of the ball to how it sounded when coming off the net. I insisted we played for eight hours non-stop." His parents supported him, but ran out of money, and his father was declared bankrupt, so both of them became taxi drivers. After winning the UK under-12 national tennis championships, Castle was given a full tennis scholarship to Millfield School in Street, Somerset. When Castle was 15, his parents separated, and he had to leave Millfield, taking his A-levels at a local grammar school.

Castle became a professional tennis player in 1986, after completing a Marketing degree whilst on an athletic scholarship in the United States. During his playing career, he was regularly ranked number one in Great Britain. He won three tour doubles titles, and was a mixed doubles finalist at the 1987 Australian Open. His 1987 run at the US Open was his best career singles performance at a Grand Slam event, when he reached the third round, losing to Boris Becker in four sets. He represented Britain at the Seoul Olympic Games of 1988, and the Barcelona Olympic Games of 1992. Castle was a regular member of the British Davis Cup team and the European Cup team. His career-high rankings were World No. 80 in singles and No. 45 in doubles.

Castle represents Surrey at squash at over-45s level, and continues to play representative tennis around the world.