I can now exclusively reveal for this site, the saddening news that Adam Lownsbrough has retired at the age of just 22.
The great man is agonisingly just 12 defeats short of the world record for most consecutive losses which is currently held by Argentina's Diego Beltranena.
Mr Lownsbrough announced that he's now pursuing a new career as a tennis coach. Later this month he'll head to the Saddlebrooks academy in Florida where several of Britain's top players are basing themselves. He said that his decision to leave the tour was a tough one but there just wasn't enough banter to keep him going.
Tributes have been flowing regularly since this news broke,
The Prime Minister announced that Mr Lownsbrough would be receiving a MBE for services to British tennis in the New Year's honours list. Speaking from no 10 Downing Street, Mr Blair said that Mr Lownsbrough's courage in turning up at tournaments each week was commendable and that the award would be just recognition for his achievement in gaining the national record for most consecutive losses.
Davis Cup captain John Lloyd commended Mr Lownsbrough's mental strength and revealed that he had been planning to play him against Holland. He said "We need players who play for their country with pride. In ties like these, you need to fighters like Adam in your squad, Peter Lundrgen and I will be heading to Florida later this month to try and convince him to change his mind."
LTA chief Roger Draper said that this was indeed a sad day for British tennis. He commended Mr Lownsbrough's efforts in getting so close to the world record and said that it was one of his goals in the next few years to see that Britain claims it. He revealed that as part of his new blueprint for British tennis, considerable amounts of money will be spent in funding Britain's Robert Dee who is just 9 losses away from the national record and 20 away from the world record."
Even the world no 1, Roger Federer was lost for words at this news. "No comment" was the reply from the Federer camp when asked for quotes.
no its genuine. but ithink it will be juniors. although he obviusly got himslef handed to on the tour he is probably alright at tennis, and he is very enthusiastic aboyut the sport, you'd have tp be to keep turning, up so he might actauly work as a coach.
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Count Zero - Creator of the Statistical Tennis Extrapolation & Verification ENtity or, as we like to call him, that steven.
Yeah, Adam is actually becoming a coach. He's been on coaching courses in London and Denmark this autumn. I'm not sure whether he's on another course at Saddlebrooks or actually taking up a coaching position there. Think he's going to be there for a while.
I forgot to mention a couple of Adam's career highlights:
[a] He got 5 games in a match twice...first time was against Andrea Agazzi of Italy and second time was while playing doubles with Bloomfield in a challenger [they lost 6-4, 6-1 in rd1].
[b.] He made his challenger debut in San Remo in May 2005. Although he lost in rd1 to Olivier Patience, he got his revenge by duffing up Patience after the match as the Frenchman had been a bit of a git on court.
Adam Lownsbrough always sounded like a nice guy who could take the teasing and he obviously has a real passion for the game, I think he'll make a great coach maybe not of the top players but of juniors or at club level. Good luck to him.
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To look at a thing is quite different from seeing a thing and one does not see anything until one sees its beauty
Great spoof article, ultimatehaven'tyoustoppedlivingintheshedyetman.
I've been missing Adam too, but kind of guessed that he'd retired. I imagine the lack of chances to pay for Challenger WCs and then the new rule about no points for Challenger R1 losses were the final nails in the coffin.
I know we always used to at him something rotten, but in the end, it wasn't his fault that San Remo was stupid enough to offer him a WC, and as a mad tennis fan aged about 20, wouldn't we all have taken up that offer if it was handed to us on a plate? In fact, I kind of admire someone who's prepared to chase their dream even at the risk of people laughing at them, as long as they don't flog the same dead horse for 10 years!
In the end, he can always say he took 5 games off Agazzi, that his progress was covered in the Times and that even though he's never got anywhere near the GB top 10, in 2005, he was probably one of the 10 best-known GB players! I'm sure he'd have double bagelled me if we'd ever played too!
Maybe he's on a coaching course at Saddlebrook prior to becoming one of the elite coaches we've been promised at the LTA's new base at Roehampton.
-- Edited by steven at 02:08, 2006-12-08
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
I too am in mourning. What a star - just shows what you can do if your dad buys you a ranking point. Has his retirement got anything to do with the fact that he wasn't able to get a ranking point bought for him this year, so therefore couldn't actually get into anything other than qualies for futures, which he had no hope of ever progressing through ?
Would still like to change my userid to "UltimateLownsbroughFan" of course ....
I've always wondered about him but never got round to posting.
Career playing record of 0-41. No more than 5 games in a match. Got a ranking when he (presumably) brought a couple of wild cards into challengers.
Now a coach. From google: Adam Lownsbrough, who has worked with a number of top players on the WTA and ATP Tours, such as Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Yuta Shimizu and Eri Hozumi, has joined the GB National Tennis Academy as a performance coach.17 Dec 2020
I noticed him as coach of Miyu Kato who Sam Murray plays in doubles next week.
You don't have to be a good player to be a good coach but still a funny story.
I've always wondered about him but never got round to posting.
Career playing record of 0-41. No more than 5 games in a match. Got a ranking when he (presumably) brought a couple of wild cards into challengers.
Now a coach. From google: Adam Lownsbrough, who has worked with a number of top players on the WTA and ATP Tours, such as Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Yuta Shimizu and Eri Hozumi, has joined the GB National Tennis Academy as a performance coach.17 Dec 2020
I noticed him as coach of Miyu Kato who Sam Murray plays in doubles next week.
You don't have to be a good player to be a good coach but still a funny story.
Great story !
Of course, we've no idea if he actually is a good coach but he certainly seems to be making a living at it.....
His full list of coaching roles and other jobs etc are on his Linkedin page:
NB Did you know we had a page for this guy, wolf? How were you actually thinking about him? You saw him as a coach for Kato and remembered from back in 2006???? I'm in awe........
-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 25th of July 2022 06:32:40 AM