Colin Fleming (born 13 August 1984) is a British retired professional tennis player who specialised in doubles.
As part of the Davis Cup team, he won eight successive doubles matches to help Great Britain into the World Group. He also won his doubles match in the World Group quarter final against Italy. At the 2010 Commonwealth Games, he won the mixed doubles gold medal with Jocelyn Rae for Scotland.
He has reached nineteen ATP Tour doubles finals in his career, winning eight of them: two in 2009, 2012 and 2013 and one in 2011 and 2015. In 2011, he had his best doubles Grand Slam results, reaching the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, and then two months later equalling it at the US Open.
He has had a number of different partners, but primarily played alongside his British compatriots, most notably Ross Hutchins, Jamie and Andy Murray, Ken Skupski and Jonathan Marray. Fleming's most successful partnership has been with Ross Hutchins, however whilst Hutchins was off the tour with illness, Fleming spent most of 2013 partnering with Marray.
He retired from professional tennis in January 2017, to take up the new position of national coach for Tennis Scotland.
Early and personal life Fleming first picked up a tennis racquet as a toddler and copied his older siblings by playing for a local club in Linlithgow. When he was eight, he began playing in mini tennis tournaments. Working his way up through the ranks Colin loved to compete, and regularly travelled long distances to play in regional challenge events and regional and GB junior tournaments. He was never at the top rank in the juniors, being small and slightly built until late teens, but held his own through court craft and determination. He also began his county career as a junior, representing North of Scotland, culminating in the great enjoyment he has in playing Summer County week and the camaraderie that he has with the North of Scotland players. As a teenager, he played in and around Edinburgh for the Blackhall club men's team. Brian Barnet coached Fleming up until he was about 14 when Fleming moved to the newly opened Next Generation club in Newhaven where Judy Murray began coaching.
Fleming is married with two children.
He is a known supporter of Partick Thistle F.C.
University tennis career
2001–2004 Fleming left high school in 2001 at age 17 to study economics & finance at the University of Stirling as a sports bursar. The university offered him the opportunity to continue with his tennis training and competition as part of a high quality programme, otherwise he would have become a social player at that time. His tennis career was supported by the university when they enabled him to take two sabbatical years from 2004 to turn pro and join the tour.
2005–2007 Fleming partnered Jamie Murray, winning their first Futures tournament on 4 September 2005 at the Great Britain F10 Futures in Nottingham.
Fleming/Murray followed this with Futures titles at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Exmouth, amassing a total of four Futures plus four satellite tournaments.
In April 2006, Fleming was selected for the Davis Cup match against Serbia and Montenegro
Fleming and Jamie Murray's success gained them a wildcard into the main draw of the men's doubles at Wimbledon though they lost in the first round.
Fleming achieved career highs for singles and doubles, but in summer 2006, Fleming decided to quit the tour to return to Stirling in order to complete his University degree. Fleming said "At that stage I had no intentions of ever playing full-time again." He graduated with First Class Honours in 2007 and secured a graduate scheme position as an energy trader where he worked for ten months.
2008 Fleming helped Giffnock win the Scottish Cup and also represented his local club Linlithgow in the national league. With his hunger rekindled and his head set on making it in pro tennis, Colin decided to return to the tour in August 2008.
Senior career
2008 Fleming considered himself to have turned properly professional in the summer of 2008, when he was 24.
In September, Fleming qualified for the singles in the Nottingham Futures F14, eventually reaching the semi-finals. A week later, Fleming played the singles in the Nottingham Futures F15, this time losing in the quarter-finals.
Ken Skupski was looking for a fellow British doubles partner who was capable of going to the top of the game, and thought Fleming's game style suited his.
Fleming/Skupski won three Futures in Glasgow, London, Sunderland
and the Caversham International Challenger in Jersey.
The pair came to be known as 'Flemski'.
Ken Skupski finished the year there because he'd had a long year, but Fleming continued by partnering Jonny Marray in the Czech Republic and winning two Futures in Frydland Nad Ostravici, and Opava
2009 In February, the Davis Cup captain John Lloyd decided to hold play-offs between six British tennis hopefuls to determine the players for the next tie. Fleming won one match, but Josh Goodall and Chris Eaton were chosen for the singles. Fleming had won six doubles tournaments matches in 2008 and was selected for the doubles.
In March, Fleming, ranked 289, made his debut in Great Britain's Davis Cup team for their Europe/Africa Zone Group I match against Ukraine in Renfrewshire. Fleming and Ross Hutchins, ranked 44, lost a tightly contested match to Sergiy Stakhovsky and Sergei Bubka, Ukraine winning 6–4, 3–6, 6–3, 5–7, 6–4 to give Ukraine an unassailable 3–0 lead.
In June, Fleming/Skupski beat the world no. 1 ranked doubles pair, Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan, at the Queen's Club grass court tournament. However they were put out in the first round at Wimbledon in five sets having led by two sets to love.
In September, Fleming/Skupski both won their first doubles tournament on the ATP Tour circuit at the Open de Moselle in France 2–6, 6–4, [10–5]. A few months later they won their second title at the St. Petersburg Open winning 2–6, 7–5, [10–4].
2010
In January Fleming competed in his first grand slam outside of Wimbledon at the Australian open again partnering Ken Skupski made it to the second round.
In March, Fleming and Skupski were called to the Davis Cup team in the Europe/Africa Zone Group II tie vs Lithuania, in Vilnius, with James Ward, and Dan Evans. The Lithuanian side entered the tie as underdogs; fielding a team of teenagers. Ward won his debut Davis Cup match but Evans lost the second singles match. Fleming and Skupski, in his debut match, won the doubles, but Ward and Evans were both beaten on the final day. This was described as a humiliating Davis Cup defeat for Great Britain, and led to the resignation of Davis Cup Captain John Lloyd. Britain was now threatened with relegation to the lowest tier of the competition.
Fleming then competed at the French open for the first time again partnering Ken Skupski but fell at the second round in three sets.
Fleming/Skupski competed in the Eastbourne Open in England and got to the final only to lose to Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in three sets 3–6, 7–5, [8–10]. For the first time he made it into the second round of Wimbledon but lost to the much more experienced Bryan brother's in straight sets again partnering Ken Skupski.
The new Davis Cup Captain Leon Smith selected Fleming to take part in Great Britain's vital Davis Cup tie vs Turkey, at Eastbourne, in July alongside Ken Skupski, James Ward, Jamie Baker, and Alex Ward. Defeat would have meant Great Britain's relegation to Europe Zone Group III, the lowest tier of the competition. Fleming/Skupski secured the 6–3, 6–4, 6–4 win that gave Britain an unassailable 3–0 lead, giving Great Britain a first Davis Cup win in three years.
At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, Fleming and nineteen year old Jocelyn Rae played Mixed Doubles for Scotland. They had barely met and did not even know they were playing together until they arrived. but won the gold medal by defeating the No 1 seeds, Australians Anastasia Rodionova and Paul Hanley, in three sets. Rodionova had already won the Singles and Women's doubles. Fleming/Rae were unable to defend their title in 2014 because tennis was not included in the Glasgow Games. Fleming also partnered Jamie Murray in the Men's Doubles but they lost in the first round.
Fleming for the first time competed at the US open and competed at all four grand slams for the first time. But fell in the first round in straight sets, once again partnering Ken Skupski.
In October, Fleming split from Ken Skupski, after defeat in the first round of the St. Petersburg Open, something which was particularly wounding given that the pair were defending the title. It meant Fleming's ranking dropped into the 90s when it was in the 60s at the start of the year.
Fleming and Ross Hutchins agreed to begin next year as steady partners, and in November they had a winning start at the Kazakhstan Challenger.
Two weeks later, Fleming and Jamie Murray won the Bratislava Challenger.
2011 Fleming and Ross Hutchins struggled with injuries and interruptions for much of the first six months.
In March, Fleming was called up to take part in Great Britain's Davis Cup 1st round tie vs Tunisia, at Bolton alongside Jamie Baker, James Ward and Jamie Murray. Fleming played alongside Jamie Murray versus Slim Hamza and Malek Jaziri, winning 6–1, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4. Great Britain went on to win the Europe/Africa Zone Group 1 tie 4–1.
In April, while his regular partner, Ross Hutchins, recovered from injury, Fleming reached the final of the ATP Casablanca Open in Morocco, this time partnering Igor Zelenay only to be beaten by Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecău in straight sets 2–6, 1–6. A week later, Fleming and Scott Lipsky won the Status Athens Open Challenger final because their opponents Matthias Bachinger and Benjamin Becker withdrew.
At the beginning of June, Fleming/Hutchins won the Aegon Trophy Challenger in Nottingham.
At Wimbledon, Fleming and Ross Hutchins both had their best performances at a Grand Slam event in doubles, defeating 7th seeds Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in the first round. Fleming and Hutchins won their first-ever five-set match together over Dmitry Tursunov and Grigor Dimitrov in the second round, on the way to the quarter-finals, where the pair lost a very tight five set thriller to Christopher Kas and Alexander Peya 4–6, 4–6, 7–6(7–2), 6–2, 4–6. They were the first British pair to reach the quarter-finals of the men's doubles tournament at Wimbledon since 1993. It was announced on the morning of the quarter-finals that Fleming had been picked alongside Jamie Murray for the doubles rubber for Britain's Davis Cup tie against Luxembourg in two weekends' time, leaving Hutchins on the sidelines. Fleming said "I think the team was picked before we went on a run to the quarters here."
Just before Great Britain's match against Luxembourg, Fleming had a slight niggle in his foot so he was replaced by Dan Evans as the back-up player. In the event, it was James Ward, Andy Murray and Jamie Murray who played, with Great Britain winning 4–1.
Two months later at the US Open, Fleming/Hutchins equalled their Wimbledon performance, once again reaching the quarterfinals. Despite a victory over 2nd seeds Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor in their second match, they ultimately lost in three sets to Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, blowing a match point opportunity in the deciding set.
Then in September, at the Davis Cup, Fleming helped Great Britain win their promotion tie 5–0 against Hungary to advance to Group I playing in both the doubles, partnered by Ross Hutchins, and one of the dead singles rubbers. This was his first ever ATP Tour singles match win, against Sebő Kiss 6–4, 6–3. James Ward was suffering the effects of his dramatic win over Attila Balázs on Friday, so Fleming came in for the final rubber and recorded his first singles win in Davis Cup.