Michael Robert Hill (born 30 June 1974) is a former tennis player from Australia who turned professional in 1997 and retired in 2005. He was primarily a doubles specialist, achieving a career-high doubles ranking of World Number 18, reached on 30 July 2001.

Career

College

Hill played three years at University of California Berkeley from 1994 to 1996 and earned All-American honors in singles in 1995–96; he studied business and economics.

Professional career

In 1995, Hill played in his first pro match at Aptos Challenger where he lost in the first round. In 1997 he reached his first quarter final, at the Guadalajara Challenger.

In 1998 he achieved some singles success in Futures and Challenger play. He won the Ireland #1 Futures title, where he defeated Noam Okun, and was also a finalist at USTA #1 Futures, where he lost to Ronald Agénor. He also made a Semi-final at USTA #2 Futures. In August, Hill won his first Challenger title in Tijuana (d. Hernandez) without dropping a set. He also reached quarter finals in San Antonio and Las Vegas Challengers. In doubles, won Challenger titles in Denver with Weiner, and Tijuana with Humphries. He also reached three consecutive finals in October in Dallas, San Antonio and San Diego, all with Humphries.

In 1999, Hill captured his second Challenger singles title in Aptos (d. Levy) and reached the quarterfinals of the Surbiton Challenger. Most of his success was in doubles; he won four Challenger titles, with back-to-back titles in Cherbourg and Magdeburg (with Painter) and in the second half of year, won in Aptos (with Humphries) and Hong Kong (with Godwin). In his second career ATP outing in Tokyo, advanced to semi finals with Humphries. In July, he reached the semi-finals in Newport (with Godwin) and made quarterfinals in four other ATP tournaments.

In 2000 he captured his first ATP doubles title in Brighton and also reached final in Tokyo with American Jeff Tarango, whom he'd have more success with the following year. He played in eight singles tournaments with his best result coming at Kyoto Challenger in March when he advanced to semi finals, along with a quarter final's appearance at the Hamilton Challenger. He made his Grand Slam singles debut at Australian Open, where he defeated Bernd Karbacher in straight sets in the first round. In the second round, he lost to Sébastien Grosjean 4–6, 6–1, 7–6(3), 6–0.

2001

He played eight other partners during the year, but mostly played with Tarango. The duo finished No. 9 in ATP Doubles Race with a 30–17 match record, winning their second title together in Casablanca in March as well as reaching finals in Marseille, Gstaad and Stuttgart. Their best Grand Slam together was reaching the semi-finals at Roland Garros after defeating top seeds Jonas Björkman and Todd Woodbridge in the quarter-finals. Finished the year with a career-high $190,217 in yearly earnings and finished the season at a year-end best No. 25 in doubles.

Personal

His father, Robert was the CFO of Abacus Property a publicly listed property development company. He has two siblings: younger brother Patrick and one older sister Carmel.

ATP Career Finals

Doubles: 9 (3 titles, 6 runner-ups)

Legend (doubles)Grand Slam (0–0)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP Masters Series (0–0)ATP Championship Series (1–2)ATP International Series (2–4)Finals by surfaceHard (1–2)Clay (2–4)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)Finals by settingOutdoor (3–5)Indoor (0–1)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss0–1Tokyo, JapanChampionship SeriesHard Jeff Tarango Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes4–6, 7–6(7–1), 3–6Win1–1Brighton, United KingdomWorld SeriesHard Jeff Tarango Paul Goldstein Jim Thomas6–3, 7–5Loss1–2Marseille, FranceWorld SeriesHard Jeff Tarango Fabrice Santoro Julien Boutter6–7(7–9), 5–7Win2–2Casablanca, MoroccoWorld SeriesClay Jeff Tarango David Macpherson Pablo Albano7–6(7–2), 6–3Loss2–3Gstaad, SwitzerlandWorld SeriesClay Jeff Tarango Roger Federer Marat Safin1–0 ret.Loss2–4Stuttgart, GermanyChampionship SeriesClay Jeff Tarango Guillermo Cañas Rainer Schüttler6–4, 6–7(1–7), 4–6Win3–4Barcelona, SpainChampionship SeriesClay Daniel Vacek Lucas Arnold Ker Gastón Etlis6–4, 6–4Loss3–5St Pölten, AustriaWorld SeriesClay Mike Bryan Petr Pála David Rikl5–7, 4–6Loss3–6Båstad, SwedenWorld SeriesClay Paul Hanley Jonas Björkman Todd Woodbridge6–7(6–8), 4–6

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 4 (3–1) LegendATP Challenger (2–0)ITF Futures (1–1)Finals by surfaceHard (2–0)Clay (0–1)Grass (0–0)Carpet (1–0)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss0–1USA F1, Delray BeachFuturesClay Ronald Agénor3–6, 3–6Win1–1Ireland F1, DublinFuturesCarpet Noam Okun4–6, 6–4, 6–3Win2–1Tijuana, MexicoChallengerHard Alejandro Hernández7–5, 6–1Win3–1Aptos, United StatesChallengerHard Harel Levy6–7, 6–4, 6–2

Doubles: 15 (11–4) LegendATP Challenger (10–3)ITF Futures (1–1)Finals by surfaceHard (9–3)Clay (0–1)Grass (0–0)Carpet (2–0)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss0–1USA F1, Delray BeachFuturesClay Scott Humphries Simon Aspelin Chris Tontz4–6, 4–6Win1–1Ireland F2, DublinFuturesCarpet Scott Humphries Jeff Coetzee Damien Roberts3–6, 6–3, 6–2Win2–1Denver, United StatesChallengerHard Glenn Weiner Justin Bower Troy Budgen7–6, 6–4Win3–1Tijuana, MexicoChallengerHard Scott Humphries Mitch Sprengelmeyer Eric Taino6–3, 6–2Loss3–2Dallas, United StatesChallengerHard Scott Humphries Jared Palmer Jonathan Stark3–6, 4–6Loss3–3San Antonio, United StatesChallengerHard Scott Humphries Michael Sell David Di Lucia3–6, 1–6Loss3–4San Diego, United StatesChallengerHard Scott Humphries Adam Peterson Paul Goldstein2–6, 5–7Win4–4Cherbourg, FranceChallengerHard Andrew Painter Massimo Bertolini Cristian Brandi7–5, 7–6Win5–4Magdeburg, GermanyChallengerCarpet Andrew Painter Jan-Ralph Brandt Dirk Dier7–6, 6–7, 7–6Win6–4Aptos, United StatesChallengerHard Andrew Painter Harel Levy Lior Mor7–6, 1–6, 7–5Win7–4Hong Kong, Hong KongChallengerHard Neville Godwin Bob Bryan Mike Bryan3–6, 7–5, 7–6Win8–4Amarillo, United StatesChallengerHard Brian Macphie Brandon Coupe Michael Sell7–5, 6–2Win9–4Ho Chi Minh City, VietnamChallengerHard Todd Woodbridge Irakli Labadze Kevin Ullyett6–3, 6–4Win10–4Singapore, SingaporeChallengerHard Neville Godwin Nathan Healey Paul Hanley6–4, 6–1Win11–4Hamilton, New ZealandChallengerHard Neville Godwin Michael Joyce Jim Thomas7–6(7–4), 6–4

Performance timelines

Singles Tournament19961997199819992000SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenQ1Q2Q1Q32R0 / 11–1French OpenAAAQ1Q20 / 00–0WimbledonAQ3Q3Q3Q20 / 00–0US OpenAQ1Q2Q2A0 / 00–0Win–loss0–00–00–00–01–10 / 11–1ATP Tour Masters 1000Cincinnati MastersAAAQ1A0 / 00–0Win–loss0–00–00–00–00–00 / 00–0

Doubles Tournament1999200020012002200320042005SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenA2R3R2R1RA1R0 / 54–5French OpenAQFSF1RA1RA0 / 46–4Wimbledon1R1R3R1RA1RA0 / 52–5US Open2R1R3R2RAAA0 / 44–4Win–loss1–24–49–42–40–10–20–10 / 1816–18ATP Tour Masters 1000Indian WellsAAQF1RAAA0 / 22–2Miami OpenQ2A3R1RAAA0 / 21–2Monte CarloAQ11R1RAAA0 / 21–2RomeAA1R2RAAA0 / 21–2MadridNot Held2RAAA0 / 11–1HamburgAA1R2RAAA0 / 21–2Canada MastersAA2RQFAAA0 / 23–2CincinnatiQ12R2R1RAAA0 / 32–3StuttgartA1RQFNot Held0 / 22–2Paris MastersAQF2R2RAAA0 / 34–3Win–loss0–03–37–88–90–00–00–00 / 2118–21

Mixed doubles Tournament20002001200220032004SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian Open2R1RSF1RA0 / 44–4French Open2RAQFAA0 / 23–2Wimbledon1R1R1RA2R0 / 41–4US OpenA2R1RAA0 / 21–2Win–loss2–31–35–40–11–10 / 129–12

References

External links