Benjamin Cawston

Benjamin Richard Edwin Cawston, known as Ben Cawston, is a Racquets (Rackets) player currently ranked no.1 in the World (March 2022) along with being champion of the world (April 2023).

Tournaments

Cawston is a two time US Open Singles Champion (2022, 2020). Cawston is the current Invitational Singles Champion (World's Top 8 players event) an event he also won in 2019. Ben is the current holder of the Western Open Singles (Chicago) and the Manchester Gold Racket Singles and Doubles. Ben is the youngest player in history to be ranked at no.1 in the world and also have a challenge for the world championship (November 2022).

Cawston previously was the youngest player in history to win the British Amateur Singles Championship in 2017 (Aged 18) and played at the Queens Club, a tournament dating back to 1888.

Controversies

Educated at Westgate Comprehensive School in Winchester, Cawston became the first state-educated pupil to win a national public school title. Following this win, he was denied entry to the doubles tournament after professionals from the 14 top private schools voted narrowly to exclude state school players.

David Makey, a professional at Tonbridge School who chairs the Rackets Professionals Association (RPA), said the reason was that state schoolboys did not play in inter-school doubles matches on which the national seedings are based. However, some insiders believe the real reason for the ban was that certain professionals feared that their own 'star players' might lose to Cawston and his doubles partner, Thomas Foster.[1]