Buster Mottram

Christopher "Buster" Mottram (born 25 April 1955 in Kingston upon Thames) is an English former tennis player and UK number 1, who achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No.

Much of Mottram's success as an adult professional came early: in April 1975, aged 19, he won his first title at the Johannesburg WCT event, defeating Bob Hewitt and Björn Borg en route to a straight-sets triumph over the fourth seed Tom Okker in the final.

That same year he engineered an even more "spectacular" win over recent Wimbledon victor Arthur Ashe in the finals of the inaugural Nations Cup in Kingston, Jamaica.

After losing four singles finals in 1977/78 (twice to Guillermo Vilas, his toughest and most frequent opponent on clay), Mottram's main achievements were in doubles tournaments.

[11] Perhaps more important than any individual achievement was Mottram's record in the Davis Cup; in the words of one contemporary observer, he "thrives on team spirit and is one of the few for whom the responsibility of playing for his country brings out the best in both his tennis and character.

[15][16] And yet, despite this and other controversial episodes off the court, Mottram was to emerge as the leading figure in the British team's successful journey to the Cup final that year, registering vital triumphs at various stages of the competition.

[8] Another impressive showing came the following year, when he executed a near-flawless victory (6–0, 6–4, 6–4) over Adriano Panatta in front of an aggressively partisan crowd at the Foro Italico in Rome.

[19] His politics strained the already tense relationship he had with the British tennis establishment, who were reportedly angry when he wrote a letter supporting Margaret Thatcher in her battles with the trades unions and signed it "on behalf of the Davis Cup team".