Andrew Castle

Castle was born in Epsom, Surrey. His mother, Lavinia Pollock (the great-grandchild of Annie Besant), married Frank Castle in April 1953. Andrew was born in 1963. Castle won a tennis scholarship to Millfield School in Somerset but at 15 his parents separated and he had to leave. Another scholarship sent him to Kansas. He taught tennis at the Wichita Racquet Club to both children and adults. [1]

Castle's father ran the fishmonger's 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).

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. In 1986 Castle reached the third round at Queens Club. 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 by defeating David Pate and Jimmy Brown, before 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.

Singles: 1 (1 runners-up )

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	1988	Seoul Open, South Korea	Hard	Dan Goldie	3–6, 7–6, 0–6

Doubles: 5 (3 titles, 2 runners-up)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	1988	Seoul Open, South Korea	Hard	Roberto Saad	Gary Donnelly Jim Grabb	6–7, 6–4, 7–6
Runner-up	1.	1988	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Tim Wilkison	Ken Flach Robert Seguso	5–7, 3–6
Winner	2.	1988	Rye Brook, USA	Hard	Tim Wilkison	Jeremy Bates Michael Mortensen	4–6, 7–5, 7–6
Winner	3.	1990	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Nduka Odizor	Alexander Mronz Michiel Schapers	7–6, 6–2
Runner-up	2.	1991	Manchester, England	Grass	Nick Brown	Omar Camporese Goran Ivanišević	4–6, 3–6

Mixed doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Result	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1987	Australian Open	Grass	Anne Hobbs	Zina Garrison Sherwood Stewart	6–3, 6–7(5–7), 3–6

On 18 May 1991, Castle married a former Japan Airlines cabin crew member Sophia, whom he had met in Tokyo whilst competing in the Japan Open tennis tournament.

On 11 August 2009, Castle challenged Health Secretary Andy Burnham during an interview on GMTV, after news reports had cast doubts on the effectiveness of Tamiflu against the swine flu virus. He said: "I can tell you that my child — who was not diagnosed at all — she had asthma, she took Tamiflu and almost died." He is the great-great grandchild of Annie Besant, a prominent British socialist, Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer, orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self-rule, and the uncle of Sienna Nasir-Hawkins, the daughter of Chris Hawkins and Clare Nasir-Hawkins.

Other charities of which he is a patron or supporter include Brainwave, the Dan Maskell Tennis Trust, Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, Macmillan Cancer Care, the NSPCC and Clic Seargent Cancer Care for Children.

In 2009, Castle became a Patron of the Festival4Stars talent competition. His daughter Georgina Castle was twice runner up in the national finals. She now attends the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.[4]

• Official website
• Andrew Castle at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Andrew Castle at the International Tennis Federation
• Andrew Castle at the Davis Cup
• Andrew Castle on LBC
• Andrew Castle at IMDb
• Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Andrew Castle". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020.