Buster Andrews
Full nameEskel Dundas Andrews
Country (sports) NZL
Born31 July 1905
Shannon, New Zealand
Died1981 (age 76)
London, England
Turned pro1921 (amateur tour)
Retired1949
Singles
Career titles19
Grand Slam singles results
French Open2R (1929, 1934)
Wimbledon4R (1930, 1935)
US Open2R (1935)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
WimbledonQF (1933, (1935)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
WimbledonQF (1932)

Eskel Dundas (Buster) Andrews[1] (31 July 1905 - 1981) was a former New Zealand tennis player who later became a solicitor and a partner in a London stockbroking firm.[2] He competed at the Wimbledon Championships thirteen times between 1928 and 1949.[3] He was a two time quarter finalist in the men's doubles, and quarter finalist in the mixed doubles.[4] He was active from 1921 to 1949 and won 19 career singles titles.

Tennis career

Andrews was born in 1905 in Shannon, New Zealand.[5] In 1917 at the age of 12 he attended Palmerston North Boys High School for the next five years, where he developed an aptitude for tennis.[6] In 1921 at the age of 16 he played his first senior tennis event at the New Zealand Championships where he lost in the second round. From 1921 until 1926 he predominantly played tournaments in Australia and New Zealand.

In 1926 Andrews won his first senior tour tournament at the New Zealand Championships against Dick North, the same year he also reached the finals of the New South Wales Championships where he lost to Fred Kalms. In 1927 Buster moved to England to study law at Cambridge.[7] In 1928 he played at his first Wimbledon Championships where he caused a sensation by defeating the American No 4 Seed Frank Hunter in five sets, before losing in the next round.[8]

In major tournaments he reached the fourth round in the men's singles at Wimbledon twice in 1930 where he lost to Bill Tilden and in 1935 when he was beaten by Bunny Austin.[9] He was somewhat more successful in the men's doubles event reaching the quarter-finals twice in 1933, then partnering Alan Steadman when they lost to the German pairing of Gottfried von Cramm and Eberhard Nourney and in 1935 when he partnered with Ireland's George Lyttleton-Rogers, but we're defeated by the British team of Pat Hughes and Raymond Tuckey.[10] In the mixed doubles in 1932 he reached the quarter-finals stage partnered with Britain's Kay Stammers, but they were beaten by the French British pairing of Henri Cochet and Eileen Fearnley Whittingstall.[11]

At the French Championships in the men's singles event he twice reached the second round in 1929 losing to René Lacoste and 1934 where he lost to Antoine Gentien. In 1935 he was seeded 14th at U.S. National Championships,[12] but was beaten by Martin Buxby in five sets in the second round.[13]

His other career singles highlights include winning the, New Zealand Championships two times (1926, 1932),[14] the North of England Championships two times (1928, 1930), the Hampshire Championships two times (1928, 1930), the Northumberland Championships (1928), the Henley Hard Courts spring meeting (1929), the South of England Championships (1929),[15] the Western India Championships (1930), the Gleneagles Hard Court Championships (1931),[16] the Northern Championships (1932), the Priory Whitsun Lawn Tennis Tournament (1932), the Ceylon Championships (1933),[17] the Auckland Championships (1934), the Norfolk Championships (1934), St George's Hill Open (1935) and the Surrey Championships (1935).[18]

In addition, he was also a finalist at the Surrey Hard Court Championships (1928), the Juan-les-Pins Championship in France (1928), the Indian International Championships at Calcutta (1930) and the Kent Championships (1932).[19] In 1936 he won his final tournament at the Scottish Hard Court Championships at St. Andrews against Ian Collins. In 1946 he played his final singles tournament at the Wimbledon Championships.[20] and a mixed doubles event at the 1949 Wimbledon Championships.[21]

Andrews was regarded as New Zealand's best player since Tony Wilding between World Wars I and II.[22]

Family

He was the son of Oscar Andrews and had two brothers.[23] In March 1937 in London he married the daughter of an oil industrialist Miss Yoma Hamilton Watson at St. Trinity's Church.[24] They had two children before divorcing in May 1950 and finalised in February 1954.[25][26] Andrews later remarried.[27] He died in London, England in 1981.[28]

Education

Buster attended Palmerston North Boys’ High School, Palmerston North, New Zealand between 1917 and 1922,[29] he won the school tennis championship three times between (1920–1922).[30] Whilst at Palmerston he won the New Zealand Junior Championships twice.[31] When he left school he balanced his tennis whilst undertaking law studies, and took a work placement with the law firm Hankins, Fitzherbert and Abraham,[32] today called Fitzherbert Rowe.[33] In 1927 he moved England to study law at Cambridge.[34] Whilst studying at Cambridge he also worked as a junior solicitor.[35]

Work

In 1930 on leaving university he became a director of Spaldings the job entailed lots of international travel.[36] He qualified as a solicitor and eventually became a partner at a stockbrocking firm and member of London Stock Exchange, London, England.[37][38]

References

  1. ↑ "Player Profile: Buster Andrews". www.wimbledon.com. AELTC. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  2. ↑ Lampp, Peter (17 February 2021). "Manawatū's greatest tennis player re-discovered". Manawatu Standard News. Stuff. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  3. ↑ AELTC
  4. ↑ AELTC
  5. ↑ Lampp
  6. ↑ "Eskell Dundas "Buster" Andrews PNBHS 1917-1922 – Gordon Club". PNBHS. Palmerston North Boys' High School. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  7. ↑ Lampp
  8. ↑ AELTC
  9. ↑ AELTC
  10. ↑ AELTC
  11. ↑ AELTC
  12. ↑ Lampp
  13. ↑ Lampp
  14. ↑ "Tennis NZ Roll of Honour" (PDF). Tennis Kiwi. Tennis New Zealand. 2020. p. 11. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  15. ↑ PNBHS
  16. ↑ "LAST DAY SHOCKS AT GLENEAGLES". www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk. Angus, Scotland: British Newspaper Archive. 28 September 1931. p. 3. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  17. ↑ "NEW ZEALAND TENNIS". Leicester Evening Mail. Leicestershire, England: British Newspaper Archive. 22 April 1933. p. 20. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  18. ↑ "Player – Eskel Dundas (Buster) Andrews". www.tennisarchives.com. Tennis Archives. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  19. ↑ Tennis Archives
  20. ↑ AELTC
  21. ↑ AELTC
  22. ↑ "ANOTHER TENNIS STAR COMING: (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) E. D. Andrews has been described as the greatest New Zealand lawn tennis player since the days of Tony Wilding. Having passed Ms final law examination recently". Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore). Lahore, Pakistan: British Newspaper Archive. 24 August 1927. p. 16. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  23. ↑ Lampp
  24. ↑ "Tennis Wedding". Leicester Chronicle. Leicestershire, England: British Newspaper Archive. 13 March 1937. p. 14. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  25. ↑ "£3,000 Divorce Damages". Gloucestershire Echo. Gloucestershire, England: British Newspaper Archive. 10 May 1950. p. 5. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  26. ↑ "DAVIS CUP MAN TO PAY £2,000". Daily News (London). London, England: British Newspaper Archive. 18 February 1954. p. 5. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  27. ↑ Lampp
  28. ↑ Lampp
  29. ↑ PNBHS
  30. ↑ PNBHS
  31. ↑ PNBHS
  32. ↑ Lampp
  33. ↑ "Our History". Fitzherbert Rowe Lawyers. New Zealand: Fitzherbert Rowe. 23 July 2021. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  34. ↑ Lampp
  35. ↑ Lampp
  36. ↑ Lampp
  37. ↑ Gloucestershire Echo (1950)
  38. ↑ Lampp
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