Neville Godwin

Neville Godwin

Country (sports)	South Africa
Residence	Johannesburg, South Africa
Born	(1975-01-31) 31 January 1975 (age 50) Johannesburg, South Africa
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Turned pro	1994
Retired	2003
Plays	Right-handed
Prize money	$912,783
Singles
Career record	36–56
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 90 (31 March 1997)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	3R (1997)
French Open	1R (1997)
Wimbledon	4R (1996)
US Open	2R (1996)
Doubles
Career record	64–74
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 57 (21 August 2000)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	2R (1998)
French Open	QF (2000)
Wimbledon	3R (2002)
US Open	3R (1999)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Wimbledon	3R (1998)
Last updated on: 22 January 2022.

Neville Godwin (born 31 January 1975) is a tennis coach and a former professional player from South Africa. He has 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 ranking in doubles was World No. 57.

Professional career

Godwin turned professional in 1994.

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.

Godwin retired in 2003.

Coaching career

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 slam.

He currently coaches Alexei Popyrin.

Junior Grand Slam finals

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

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1993	French Open	Clay	Gareth Williams	Steven Downs James Greenhalgh	1–6, 1–6
Loss	1993	Wimbledon	Grass	Gareth Williams	Steven Downs James Greenhalgh	7–6, 6–7, 6–7
Win	1993	US Open	Hard	Gareth Williams	Ben Ellwood 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	Leander Paes	3–6, 2–6
Win	1–1	Jul 2001	Newport, United States	International Series	Grass	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	Fernon Wibier	Luke Jensen Murphy Jensen	4–6, 4–6
Loss	0–2	Apr 1998	Hong Kong, Hong Kong	International Series	Hard	Tuomas Ketola	Byron Black Alex O'Brien	5–7, 1–6
Loss	0–3	Apr 1999	Chennai, India	World Series	Hard	Wayne Black	Leander Paes 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	Tuomas Ketola	3–6, 4–6
Win	1–1	May 1998	Jerusalem, Israel	Challenger	Hard	Gabriel Trifu	6–4, 7–6
Loss	1–2	May 1999	Jerusalem, Israel	Challenger	Hard	Lior Mor	5–7, 7–5, 2–6
Loss	1–3	Jul 1999	Manchester, United Kingdom	Challenger	Grass	Igor Gaudi	6–7, 2–6
Loss	1–4	Aug 1999	Istanbul, Turkey	Challenger	Hard	Vadim Kutsenko	4–6, 6–7(3–7)
Win	2–4	Nov 2000	Las Vegas, United States	Challenger	Hard	Cristiano Caratti	6–3, 6–3
Loss	2–5	Jun 2001	Surbiton, United Kingdom	Challenger	Grass	Taylor Dent	6–4, 6–7(3–7), 2–6
Loss	2–6	Mar 2002	Hamburg, Germany	Challenger	Carpet	Raemon Sluiter	1–6, 3–6
Loss	2–7	Jan 2003	Waikoloa, United States	Challenger	Hard	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	Scott Sigerseth	David Di Lucia Chris Woodruff	6–4, 4–6, 3–6
Loss	0–2	May 1995	Bombay, India	Challenger	Hard	David Nainkin	Byron Black Wayne Black	2–6, 6–7
Win	1–2	May 1996	Jerusalem, Israel	Challenger	Hard	Leander Paes	Noam Behr Eyal Ran	7–6, 7–5
Loss	1–3	Jul 1996	Aptos, United States	Challenger	Hard	Geoff Grant	Sébastien Leblanc Jocelyn Robichaud	6–7, 7–6, 5–7
Loss	1–4	May 1998	Jerusalem, Israel	Challenger	Hard	David Nainkin	Noam Behr Eyal Erlich	walkover
Win	2–4	Nov 1998	Brest, France	Challenger	Hard	Marcos Ondruska	Justin Gimelstob Brian Macphie	6–4, 5–7, 6–4
Loss	2–5	May 1999	Jerusalem, Israel	Challenger	Hard	Barry Cowan	Tuomas Ketola Jeff Coetzee	2–6, 4–6
Win	3–5	Jul 1999	Manchester, United Kingdom	Challenger	Grass	Jeff Coetzee	Jamie Delgado Martin Lee	6–4, 6–2
Loss	3–6	Aug 1999	Istanbul, Turkey	Challenger	Hard	Jeff Coetzee	Gouichi Motomura Oleg Ogorodov	2–6, 6–2, 2–6
Win	4–6	Oct 1999	Hong Kong, Hong Kong	Challenger	Hard	Michael Hill	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	3–6, 7–5, 7–6
Win	5–6	Feb 2000	Hull, United Kingdom	Challenger	Carpet	Barry Cowan	Julian Knowle Stefano Pescosolido	6–3, 3–6, 6–3
Win	6–6	Mar 2000	Singapore, Singapore	Challenger	Hard	Michael Hill	Nathan Healey Paul Hanley	6–4, 6–1
Win	7–6	Mar 2000	Hamilton, New Zealand	Challenger	Hard	Michael Hill	Michael Joyce Jim Thomas	7–6(7–4), 6–4
Win	8–6	May 2000	Jerusalem, Israel	Challenger	Hard	Kevin Ullyett	Noam Behr Eyal Ran	7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–3)
Loss	8–7	Aug 2001	Segovia, Spain	Challenger	Hard	Marcos Ondruska	Wesley Moodie Shaun Rudman	6–7(5–7), 3–6
Win	9–7	Nov 2001	Eckental, Germany	Challenger	Carpet	George Bastl	Yves Allegro Marcus Hilpert	6–4, 4–6, 7–5
Win	10–7	Apr 2002	Tarzana, United States	Challenger	Hard	George Bastl	Brandon Coupe Kevin Kim	6–3, 4–6, 6–3
Win	11–7	Apr 2002	Paget, Bermuda	Challenger	Clay	George Bastl	Ramón Delgado 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

• Neville Godwin at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Neville Godwin at the International Tennis Federation
• Neville Godwin at the Davis Cup
• Neville Godwin at the Association of Tennis Professionals Coach profile

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Magnus Norman	ATP Coach of the Year 2017	Succeeded by Marián Vajda