Who was the inspiration for Paul Bettanys character, I know comparisons have been made to Goran Ivanisevic and his win while he was a wildcard and nowhere in the Word Ranking.
But is Peter Colt based on any British Player, I always Tim Henman, although he never actually won Wimbledon, Peter Colt always came across as a nice guy, as Henman always seemed too be
Closest would be Mark Cox who played in the 70s and 80s. He won 8 singles titles (compared to Colt's 2 (pre-Wimbledon victory)) and was once ranked 13th (Colt's highest was 11th). John Lloyd won 1 title and was ranked 21st at his best.
We'll be covering this on my podcast in a couple of weeks: www.southlondonhardcore.com Episode 28 probably, South London sport films.
This is obviously not an answer, since it happened AFTER the movie, but sometimes reality rivals with fiction:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1224895-roger-federer-upset-by-tommy-haas-at-2012-gerry-weber-open
Tommy Haas (34) won the Gerry Weber open against Federer, in a scenario that resembles very much the one of the movie.
I thought it was the long suffering Brit John Lloyd who married the American Chris Evatt, [but didn't live happily ever after, but who does].
It was all happening in 1977 in the Centenary year [for something?] and a Brit woman actually won Wimbledon
http://www.kindleflippages.com/ablog/
He is based off of every talented Brit who suffered between Fred Perry and Andy Murray
shareI reckon John Lloyd.
It's that man again!!