Michael Jeremy Bates (born 19 June 1962) is a British former professional tennis player. He was ranked UK number 1 in 1987 and from 1989 to 1994. He reached a career-high ATP world ranking of 54 from 17 April 1995 to 23 April 1995.

During his career Bates won two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, at Wimbledon in 1987 and the Australian Open in 1991, partnering his fellow British player Jo Durie. He also won one top-level singles title and three men's doubles titles on the professional circuit. After retiring as a player, Bates served as the captain of Britain's Davis Cup team from 2004 to 2006.

Career Bates turned professional in 1982. Partnering his fellow British player Jo Durie, he won the mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon in 1987, the first British doubles team to win the title for 51 years and the Australian Open in 1991, the first time a British doubles team has ever won the title. He was also a Men's Doubles runner-up at the Australian Open in 1988 (partnering Sweden's Peter Lundgren).

As a singles player, Bates reached the fourth round at Wimbledon twice – in 1992 and 1994 – losing on both occasions to France's Guy Forget. In the 1992 encounter, Bates held a match point against Forget in the fourth set, but failed to convert it and ended up losing in five sets 7–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–7, 3–6, narrowly missing out on a place in the quarter-finals against John McEnroe. Bates was also the first ever opponent of Andre Agassi in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, in the first round of the 1986 US Open, with Bates winning in four sets against the 16-year-old wildcard Agassi.

Bates won one top-level singles title during his career – at Seoul in 1994 when he was aged 31, becoming the first British male to win an ATP tour title since Mark Cox in 1977 (he was the oldest champion on the tour that season). He also won three men's doubles titles at Tel Aviv (1989), Queen's Club (1990), and Rotterdam (1994). He was the British national champion six times, and played in 20 Davis Cup ties for Britain, scoring 27 wins and 24 losses. His career-high rankings were World No. 54 in singles (in 1995) and World No. 25 in doubles (in 1991).

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 1 (1 loss) ResultYearChampionship SurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 1988 Australian Open Hard Peter Lundgren Rick Leach Jim Pugh 3–6, 2–6, 3–6

Mixed doubles: 2 (2 wins) ResultYearChampionship SurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin 1987 Wimbledon Grass Jo Durie Nicole Bradtke Darren Cahill 7–6(12–10), 6–3Win1991Australian Open Hard Jo Durie Robin White Scott Davis 2–6, 6–4, 6–4

ATP Career Finals

Singles: 1 (1 title) LegendGrand Slam Tournaments (0–0)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP Masters Series (0–0)ATP Championship Series (0–0)ATP World Series (1–0)Finals by surfaceHard (1–0)Clay (0–0)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)Finals by settingOutdoors (1–0)Indoors (0–0)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreWin1–0Seoul, South KoreaWorld SeriesHard Jörn Renzenbrink6–4, 6–7(5–7), 6–3

Doubles: 11 (3 titles, 8 runner-ups) LegendGrand Slam Tournaments (0–1)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP Masters Series (0–0)ATP Championship Series (0–1)ATP World Series (3–6)Finals by surfaceHard (1–3)Clay (0–0)Grass (1–1)Carpet (1–4)Finals by settingOutdoors (2–3)Indoors (1–5)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss0–1Melbourne, AustraliaGrand SlamHard Peter Lundgren Rick Leach Jim Pugh3–6, 2–6, 3–6Loss0–2Rye Brook, United StatesGrand PrixHard Michael Mortensen Andrew Castle Tim Wilkison6–4, 5–7, 6–7Loss0–3Basel, SwitzerlandGrand PrixHard Peter Lundgren Jakob Hlasek Tomáš Šmíd3–6, 1–6Loss0–4Frankfurt, West GermanyGrand PrixCarpet Tom Nijssen Rudiger Haas Goran Ivanisevic6–1, 5–7, 3–6Win1–4Tel-Aviv, IsraelGrand PrixHard Patrick Baur Rikard Bergh Per Henricsson6–1, 4–6, 6–1Loss1–5Wembley, United KingdomGrand PrixCarpet Kevin Curren Jakob Hlasek John McEnroe1–6, 6–7Win2–5Queen's, United KingdomWorld SeriesGrass Kevin Curren Henri Leconte Ivan Lendl6–2, 7–6Loss2–6Stuttgard, GermanyChampionship SeriesCarpet Nick Brown Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez3–6, 5–7Loss2–7Toulouse, FranceWorld SeriesCarpet Kevin Curren Tom Nijssen Cyril Suk6–3, 3–6, 6–7Loss2–8Manchester, United KingdomWorld SeriesGrass Laurie Warder Patrick Galbraith David Macpherson6–4, 3–6, 2–6Win3–8Rotterdam, NetherlandsWorld SeriesCarpet Jonas Björkman Jacco Eltingh Paul Haarhuis6–4, 6–1

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 10 (5–5) LegendATP Challenger (5–5)ITF Futures (0–0)Finals by surfaceHard (4–3)Clay (0–0)Grass (1–0)Carpet (0–2)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss0–1Madeira, PortugalChallengerHard Nuno Marques3–6, 3–6Loss0–2Cape Town, South AfricaChallengerCarpet Gary Muller7–5, 2–6, 3–6Win1–2Durban, South AfricaChallengerHard Grant Stafford6–4, 6–1Win2–2Cherbourg, FranceChallengerHard Byron Black7–5, 1–6, 7–6Loss2–3Taipei, TaiwanChallengerHard Sandon Stolle3–6, 7–5, 5–7Loss2–4Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaChallengerHard Sandon Stolle6–7, 4–6Loss2–5Dublin, IrelandChallengerCarpet Paolo Cane3–6, 5–7Win3–5Gothenburg, SwedenChallengerHard Alex Radulescu6–2, 6–3Win4–5Brest, FranceChallengerHard Lionel Barthez6–3, 6–1Win5–5Bristol, United KingdomChallengerGrass Andrew Foster6–7, 6–4, 6–3

Doubles: 7 (5–2) LegendATP Challenger (5–2)ITF Futures (0–0)Finals by surfaceHard (3–2)Clay (0–0)Grass (0–0)Carpet (2–0)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss0–1Enugu, NigeriaChallengerHard Stanislav Birner Jorge Lozano Tim Pawsat1–6, 6–1, 2–6Win1–1Telford, United KingdomChallengerCarpet Nick Brown Ronnie Baathman Rikard Bergh6–4, 7–6Win2–1Cape Town, South AfricaChallengerCarpet Marius Barnard Wayne Ferreira Pieter Norval6–3, 6–1Win3–1Nagoya, JapanChallengerHard Mark Petchey Bertrand Madsen Leander Paes7–5, 3–6, 7–6Loss3–2New Haven, United StatesChallengerHard Byron Black Todd Nelson Leander Paes5–7, 6–2, 6–7Abandoned3–2Bristol, United KingdomChallengerGrass Mark Petchey Paul Hand Chris Wilkinson7–6, 4–6Win4–2Singapore, SingaporeChallengerHard Christo Van Rensburg Sander Groen Grant Stafford6–3, 6–4Win5–2Gothenburg, SwedenChallengerHard Chris Wilkinson Andrew Foster Ross Matheson7–6, 6–3

Performance timelines

Singles Tournament1981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAQ2Q2Q11RA2R2R3R1R1R1R1RA2RA0 / 94–9French OpenAAAAA1RA3R3R1RAA1RQ21RA0 / 64–6WimbledonQ21R1R1R1R1R3R2R2R2R2R4R1R4R1R1R0 / 1512–15US OpenAAAA1R2RA1RA1RAAQ21R1RA0 / 61–6Win–loss0–00–10–10–10–31–32–24–45–31–41–23–20–33–21–40–10 / 3621–36National RepresentationSummer OlympicsNot HeldANot Held2RNot HeldANot HeldA0 / 11–1ATP Masters SeriesMiamiAAAAA1RA1RA1RAAAAAA0 / 30–3RomeAAAAAAA1RAAAAAAAA0 / 10–1CanadaAAAAAAAA1RAA1R2R2R1RA0 / 52–5CincinnatiAAAAAAAAA1RAAQ1AAA0 / 10–1Win–loss0–00–00–00–00–00–10–00–20–10–20–00–11–11–10–10–00 / 102–10

Doubles Tournament1981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAA2RA3RA2RF2R1RSF1R2RAAA0 / 915–9French OpenAAAAA1R3R1R1R1R2R2R1RAAA0 / 84–8WimbledonQ11R2R1R2R1R2R2R1RQF1R2RQF2R1R2R0 / 1513–15US OpenAAAAA2RA1R1R2R1RAAAAA0 / 52–5Win–loss0–00–12–20–13–21–34–36–41–44–45–42–34–31–10–11–10 / 3734–37National RepresentationSummer OlympicsNot HeldANot Held1RNot HeldANot HeldA0 / 10–1ATP Masters SeriesMiamiAAAAA2R1R3RAAA1RAAAA0 / 43–4Monte CarloAAAAA2RAAAAQFAAAAA0 / 23–2RomeAAAAAAA2RAA1RAAAAA0 / 21–2CanadaAAAAAAAASFAA1R2RAAA0 / 33–3CincinnatiAAAAAQFA1RA1RAAQ1AAA0 / 32–3Win–loss0–00–00–00–00–04–30–13–32–10–12–20–21–10–00–00–00 / 1412–14

Mixed Doubles Tournament1981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAAAAAAAAAQFWQFAAAA1 / 39–2French OpenAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA0 / 00–0Wimbledon3R2RAA1RQFW2RAQF3R3RQF2R2R3R1 / 1324–12US OpenAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA0 / 00–0Win–loss2–10–10–00–00–13–16–01–10–05–27–14–23–11–11–12–12 / 1635–14

Post-retirement activity

Bates retired from the professional tour in 1996. Since leaving the tour, he has served as captain of Britain's Davis Cup team as well as playing in seniors' events. He quit as Head of Performance for the Lawn Tennis Association in January 2007. In September 2007, Bates was appointed Director of Tennis at the Sutton Tennis Academy (London, UK). He quit Sutton Tennis Academy in May 2010, and worked as a broadcaster and commentator for the BBC, Eurosport and Sky. He became the individual coach of former British Number 1 Anne Keothavong and continues to coach, including British player, Katie Boulter.

References

External links