Neville Godwin

South African tennis player

Neville Godwin
Country (sports) South Africa
ResidenceJohannesburg, South Africa
Born (1975-01-31) 31 January 1975 (age 49)
Johannesburg, South Africa
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Turned pro1994
Retired2003
PlaysRight-handed
Prize money$912,783
Singles
Career record36–56
Career titles1
Highest rankingNo. 90 (31 March 1997)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open3R (1997)
French Open1R (1997)
Wimbledon4R (1996)
US Open2R (1996)
Doubles
Career record64–74
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 57 (21 August 2000)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open2R (1998)
French OpenQF (2000)
Wimbledon3R (2002)
US Open3R (1999)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Wimbledon3R (1998)
Last updated on: 22 January 2022.

Neville Godwin (born 31 January 1975) is a former tennis player from South Africa.

Godwin turned professional in 1994. The right-hander won one singles title (2001 Newport) in his career, and reached his highest individual ranking on the ATP Tour in March 1997, when he became World No. 90.

His highest world ranking for doubles was World No. 57.

At the 1996 Wimbledon tournament, Godwin had his best finish at a Grand Slam, when he reached the fourth round as a qualifier, defeating Cristiano Caratti, compatriot Grant Stafford and Boris Becker before losing to Alex Rădulescu.

He finished his career in 2003.

He now lives in his hometown of Johannesburg with his wife, Nicky and two sons, Oliver and James. He coached performance players out of the Wanderers Club for 5 years, before coaching South African player Kevin Anderson to a world top 10 ranking and a US Open final appearance in 2017. In 2017, he won ATP Coach of the Year award. On 12 November 2017 it was announced Godwin and Anderson had split. He came into limelight again during the Australian Open 2018 when Hyeon Chung, who was being coached by Godwin became the first player from South Korea to reach the semifinals of a grand slam.

Junior Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Result Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1993 French Open Clay South Africa Gareth Williams New Zealand Steven Downs
New Zealand James Greenhalgh
1–6, 1–6
Loss 1993 Wimbledon Grass South Africa Gareth Williams New Zealand Steven Downs
New Zealand James Greenhalgh
7–6, 6–7, 6–7
Win 1993 US Open Hard South Africa Gareth Williams Australia Ben Ellwood
Australia James Sekulov
6–3, 6–3

ATP career finals

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–0)
ATP Championship Series (0–0)
ATP World Series (1–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (1–1)
Carpet (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (1–1)
Indoors (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Jul 1998 Newport, United States International Series Grass India Leander Paes 3–6, 2–6
Win 1–1 Jul 2001 Newport, United States International Series Grass United Kingdom Martin Lee 6–1, 6–4

Doubles: 3 (3 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–0)
ATP Championship Series (0–1)
ATP World Series (0–2)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–2)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (0–3)
Indoors (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Jul 1997 Washington, United States Championship Series Clay Netherlands Fernon Wibier United States Luke Jensen
United States Murphy Jensen
4–6, 4–6
Loss 0–2 Apr 1998 Hong Kong, Hong Kong International Series Hard Finland Tuomas Ketola Zimbabwe Byron Black
United States Alex O'Brien
5–7, 1–6
Loss 0–3 Apr 1999 Chennai, India World Series Hard Zimbabwe Wayne Black India Leander Paes
India Mahesh Bhupathi
6–4, 5–7, 4–6

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 9 (2–7)

Legend
ATP Challenger (2–7)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (2–4)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–2)
Carpet (0–1)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Dec 1997 Eilat, Israel Challenger Hard Finland Tuomas Ketola 3–6, 4–6
Win 1–1 May 1998 Jerusalem, Israel Challenger Hard Romania Gabriel Trifu 6–4, 7–6
Loss 1–2 May 1999 Jerusalem, Israel Challenger Hard Israel Lior Mor 5–7, 7–5, 2–6
Loss 1–3 Jul 1999 Manchester, United Kingdom Challenger Grass Italy Igor Gaudi 6–7, 2–6
Loss 1–4 Aug 1999 Istanbul, Turkey Challenger Hard Uzbekistan Vadim Kutsenko 4–6, 6–7(3–7)
Win 2–4 Nov 2000 Las Vegas, United States Challenger Hard Italy Cristiano Caratti 6–3, 6–3
Loss 2–5 Jun 2001 Surbiton, United Kingdom Challenger Grass United States Taylor Dent 6–4, 6–7(3–7), 2–6
Loss 2–6 Mar 2002 Hamburg, Germany Challenger Carpet Netherlands Raemon Sluiter 1–6, 3–6
Loss 2–7 Jan 2003 Waikoloa, United States Challenger Hard United States Robby Ginepri 3–6, 3–6

Doubles: 18 (11–7)

Legend
ATP Challenger (11–7)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (7–7)
Clay (1–0)
Grass (1–0)
Carpet (2–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Aug 1994 Binghamton, United States Challenger Hard United States Scott Sigerseth United States David Di Lucia
United States Chris Woodruff
6–4, 4–6, 3–6
Loss 0–2 May 1995 Bombay, India Challenger Hard South Africa David Nainkin Zimbabwe Byron Black
Zimbabwe Wayne Black
2–6, 6–7
Win 1–2 May 1996 Jerusalem, Israel Challenger Hard India Leander Paes Israel Noam Behr
Israel Eyal Ran
7–6, 7–5
Loss 1–3 Jul 1996 Aptos, United States Challenger Hard United States Geoff Grant Canada Sébastien Leblanc
Canada Jocelyn Robichaud
6–7, 7–6, 5–7
Loss 1–4 May 1998 Jerusalem, Israel Challenger Hard South Africa David Nainkin Israel Noam Behr
Israel Eyal Erlich
walkover
Win 2–4 Nov 1998 Brest, France Challenger Hard South Africa Marcos Ondruska United States Justin Gimelstob
United States Brian Macphie
6–4, 5–7, 6–4
Loss 2–5 May 1999 Jerusalem, Israel Challenger Hard United Kingdom Barry Cowan Finland Tuomas Ketola
South Africa Jeff Coetzee
2–6, 4–6
Win 3–5 Jul 1999 Manchester, United Kingdom Challenger Grass South Africa Jeff Coetzee United Kingdom Jamie Delgado
United Kingdom Martin Lee
6–4, 6–2
Loss 3–6 Aug 1999 Istanbul, Turkey Challenger Hard South Africa Jeff Coetzee Japan Gouichi Motomura
Uzbekistan Oleg Ogorodov
2–6, 6–2, 2–6
Win 4–6 Oct 1999 Hong Kong, Hong Kong Challenger Hard Australia Michael Hill United States Bob Bryan
United States Mike Bryan
3–6, 7–5, 7–6
Win 5–6 Feb 2000 Hull, United Kingdom Challenger Carpet United Kingdom Barry Cowan Austria Julian Knowle
Italy Stefano Pescosolido
6–3, 3–6, 6–3
Win 6–6 Mar 2000 Singapore, Singapore Challenger Hard Australia Michael Hill Australia Nathan Healey
Australia Paul Hanley
6–4, 6–1
Win 7–6 Mar 2000 Hamilton, New Zealand Challenger Hard Australia Michael Hill United States Michael Joyce
United States Jim Thomas
7–6(7–4), 6–4
Win 8–6 May 2000 Jerusalem, Israel Challenger Hard South Africa Kevin Ullyett Israel Noam Behr
Israel Eyal Ran
7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–3)
Loss 8–7 Aug 2001 Segovia, Spain Challenger Hard South Africa Marcos Ondruska South Africa Wesley Moodie
South Africa Shaun Rudman
6–7(5–7), 3–6
Win 9–7 Nov 2001 Eckental, Germany Challenger Carpet Switzerland George Bastl Switzerland Yves Allegro
Germany Marcus Hilpert
6–4, 4–6, 7–5
Win 10–7 Apr 2002 Tarzana, United States Challenger Hard Switzerland George Bastl United States Brandon Coupe
United States Kevin Kim
6–3, 4–6, 6–3
Win 11–7 Apr 2002 Paget, Bermuda Challenger Clay Switzerland George Bastl Paraguay Ramón Delgado
Brazil Alexandre Simoni
7–6(10–8), 6–3

Performance timelines

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

Tournament 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A Q3 Q3 3R Q1 Q1 A Q3 Q1 Q3 0 / 1 2–1 67%
French Open A A A A 1R Q1 A Q1 Q1 Q1 A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Wimbledon Q2 Q1 A 4R 2R 1R Q1 3R 1R 1R A 0 / 6 6–6 50%
US Open Q1 A 1R 2R Q1 Q3 Q2 Q2 Q1 Q1 A 0 / 2 1–2 33%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–1 4–2 3–3 0–1 0–0 2–1 0–1 0–1 0–0 0 / 10 9–10 47%
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells A A A Q2 A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Miami A A 1R Q1 1R 1R Q1 A Q1 A A 0 / 3 0–3 0%
Canada A A Q3 1R 2R 2R A Q2 A A A 0 / 3 2–3 40%
Cincinnati A A A A A A A 1R A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Paris A A Q1 A A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–1 1–2 1–2 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 7 2–7 22%

Doubles

Tournament 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A A 2R 1R A 1R A 0 / 3 1–3 25%
French Open A A A A A 2R 1R QF 2R 1R 0 / 5 5–5 50%
Wimbledon Q2 Q1 A Q1 Q1 2R 1R 1R 1R 3R 0 / 5 3–5 38%
US Open A A Q1 A 1R 1R 3R 1R 1R 1R 0 / 6 2–6 25%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 3–4 2–4 3–3 1–4 2–3 0 / 19 11–19 37%
Miami A A 1R A Q2 1R 1R A 2R A 0 / 4 1–4 20%
Canada A A Q2 A QF Q2 A 1R A A 0 / 2 2–2 50%
Cincinnati A A A A A A A 2R A A 0 / 1 1–1 50%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 2–1 0–1 0–1 1–2 1–1 0–0 0 / 7 4–7 36%

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by ATP Coach of the Year
2017
Succeeded by
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