Andrew Nicholas Castle (born November 15, 1963 in Epsom, Surrey) is an English retired tennis professional, and now television presenter.

Biography

His mother Lavinia Pollock (born Mary B), was adopted shortly after her birth. She married fishmonger Frank Castle in 1952. The couple had five children: James, Richard, David, Fiona and Andrew, who was born in 1963.^[1]

Castle's father ran the fishmongers in Westerham, Kent where his customers included the lady of nearby Chartwell house, Winston Churchill's wife Clementine. A poor businessman who gambled, the family were forced to sell-up and move on cost reasons to Taunton, Somerset where they lived over a Fish and Chip shop.^[1]

Tennis career

Aged nine, Andrew was asked by a friend to come and play tennis: "I can remember every detail about the day, from the feel of the ball to how it sounded when coming off the net. I insisted we played for eight hours non-stop." His parents supported him, but ran out of money and his father was declared bankrupt, so both of them became taxi drivers. After winning the UK under-12 national tennis championships, Castle was given a full tennis scholarship to Millfield School. When Castle was 15, his parents separated and he had to leave Millfield, taking his A-levels at a local grammar school.^[1]

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. He won three tour doubles titles and was a mixed doubles finalist at the 1987 Australian Open. 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 number 80 in singles and number 45 in doubles.

Castle represents Surrey at Squash and continues to play representative tennis around the world.

TV career

After retiring from professional tennis in 1992, Castle served as a commentator and presenter for BSkyB. He presented basketball, motor racing and golf for Sky. In September 2000 he joined GMTV, where he currently co-anchors GMTV Today each Thursday and Friday.

He is also a key member of the Bafta nominated BBC tennis team, covering Wimbledon, the Artois Championships at Queen's Club, the French Open, Australian Open and the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas. Castle has been lead commentator on all men's singles finals since 2003 working alongside John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Jimmy Connors, Tim Henman and John Lloyd.

In 2005 he presented ITV's daytime quiz show Perseverance.

Strictly Come Dancing

Castle is currently competing in the sixth series of the celebrity dance competition, Strictly Come Dancing. His partner is Ola Jordan. Castle's appearance will also mark the third time a main GMTV presenter has participated in the show.

Personal life

On 18 May 1991 Castle married former Japan Airlines air hostess Sophia, whom he had met in Tokyo.^[1] The couple have two children, Georgina (16) and Claudia (14). Georgina sang for the Great Ormond Street Hospital charity at the Inter Continental Hotel in May 2008 and gained considerable attention from press and record companies.

Castle is a supporter of Christopher's Hospice in Surrey, England in his role as Patron of Chase. In April 2006, he attempted to run the London Marathon and was hospitalised due to dehydration after managing 23 miles of the 26.2 mile course.^[2]

References

External links

• Andrew Castle at gm.tv
• ATP Tennis Player Profile
• sports-reference