Ferdinands was born in 1936 and educated at St. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia.[1] He graduated with a BsC from University of Ceylon.[1] He then joined the Ceylon Brewery Nuwara Eliya.[1] Aged 17 he was part of Ceylon's first Davis Cup squad to play Holland in 1953 (though was not selected to play his first match until 1956).[1] He played some tournaments in England in 1953 and received coaching from Fred Perry.[1] In 1957 he won his first singles title at the Ceylon Championships[1] over Bernard Pinto. He won his second title in 1963 beating Bernard Pinto in five sets.[2] In 1969 he was 2 sets to 1 down in the final against Shambunath Misra, but then "slowed down the tempo of the game" and won in five sets.[3] In 1970 he won the title for the fourth and last time, beating S. N. Misra in the final in four sets.[4]
Ferdinands emigrated to Australia in 1972, where he became a project manager at Standards Australia and was also a tennis coach and umpire.[1] He has a wife and three children.[1]
