The Open Era
Great Britain · born Solihull, 1962 · right-handed · Wimbledon mixed doubles champion 1987 with Jo Durie, Britain's No. 1 for most of the years 1987 to 1994
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1987
Wimbledon mixed doubles title with Jo Durie, unseeded
51
Years since the last all-British winners of the Wimbledon mixed
1990
Queen's Club doubles title with Kevin Curren
2
Wimbledon singles fourth rounds, 1992 and 1994, both lost to Guy Forget
15
Wimbledon appearances, the last in 1996
Michael Jeremy Bates was born in Solihull on 19 June 1962 and won the British under-12 title in 1974. He turned professional in 1982 and spent fourteen years on the tour, most of them as Britain's leading man: he was British No. 1 for more than five years and national singles champion five times.
His best singles results came on grass. He reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 1992 and 1994, losing both times to Guy Forget, the first time after holding a match point. His one ATP singles title came at the 137th attempt, at Seoul in 1994, and made him the first British man to win a tour title since Mark Cox in 1977. He reached No. 54 in singles in 1995 and No. 25 in doubles in 1991.
His Grand Slam titles were both in mixed doubles with Jo Durie: Wimbledon in 1987 and the Australian Open in 1991. He also won the Queen's Club doubles with Kevin Curren in 1990 and reached the 1988 Australian Open men's doubles final with Peter Lundgren. He played 20 Davis Cup ties, captained the team from 2004 to 2006, worked for the LTA, and has coached Anne Keothavong and Katie Boulter.
| Wimbledon mixed 1987 final | With Jo Durie, unseeded, beat Darren Cahill and Nicole Provis 7-6 (12-10), 6-3 in 71 minutes on Centre Court; the 22-point tie-break is still the longest in a Wimbledon mixed final |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon 1992 | Beat Michael Chang, Javier Sánchez and Thierry Champion, then lost to Guy Forget 7-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7, 3-6 after serving at 5-4, 40-30 in the fourth set |
| Queen's Club 1990 | Doubles title with Kevin Curren, beating Henri Leconte and Ivan Lendl 6-2, 7-6 |
| Invitation doubles at Wimbledon | 35 and over title 1997 with Ramesh Krishnan and 2003 with Nick Fulwood; senior title 2007 and 2009 with Anders Järryd, and runner-up with Järryd four years running from 2010 to 2013 |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Mixed doubles | with Jo Durie |
| Queen's Club | ||
| 1990 | Men's doubles | with Kevin Curren |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"I became the example, on that day, that tennis is mainly a psychological game."
The person behind the player.
Wimbledon, June 1992
At 7-6, 4-6, 6-3, 5-4 and 40-30 on his serve against Guy Forget, he caught the ball toss after a noise in the crowd. "I threw the ball to serve and I don't really know if someone took a picture or sneezed," he said later. "I'm almost certain that it was a sneeze." Forget returned the second serve, won the set on a tie-break and the fifth 6-3.
Source: Maxime Brigand, We Are Tennis (BNP Paribas), 2017London, June 1992
During the run a tabloid photographer followed him to his bus stop when he went to the bank. Twenty-five years on he laughed about how serving for big matches felt late in his career: "the ball was no longer a ball for me. It was attached to the palm of my hand, like if I was holding a toffee apple."
Source: Maxime Brigand, We Are Tennis (BNP Paribas), 2017Centre Court, 1987
On match point in the mixed final he served to Darren Cahill, and Jo Durie guessed the return would come straight at her. "Sure enough he hit it at me and somehow I managed to get the racket on it and it squirted over the net," she recalled. "It was a terrible volley but it was enough."
Source: Jo Carter, ESPN, January 2011Seoul, 1994
He won his only ATP singles title at his 137th tournament, beating Jörn Renzenbrink in the Seoul final in 1994. At 31 he was the oldest champion on the tour that season.
Source: Olympedia; WikipediaWimbledon, 1996
His last match as a professional was his 15th Wimbledon, a straight-sets defeat by Nicolás Pereira on Court 14.
Source: OlympediaFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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