Michael Jeremy Bates (born 19 June 1962) is a British former professional

tennis player Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...

. He was ranked UK number 1 in 1987 and from 1989 to 1994. He reached a career-high

ATP ATP may refer to: Companies and organizations * Association of Tennis Professionals, men's professional tennis governing body * American Technical Publishers, employee-owned publishing company * ', a Danish pension * Armenia Tree Project, non ...

world ranking of 54 from 17 April 1995 to 23 April 1995. During his career he won two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles,

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

in 1987 and the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

in 1991, with tennis partner

Jo Durie Joanna Mary Durie (born 27 July 1960) is a former world No. 5 tennis player from the United Kingdom. During her career, she also reached No. 9 in doubles, and won two Grand Slam titles, both in the mixed doubles with Jeremy Bates. Born in Bris ...

as well as one singles title and three men's doubles titles. After retiring from the professional circuit, he served as the captain of Britain's

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

team from 2004 to 2006.

Career

Bates turned professional in 1982. Partnering his fellow British player

, he won the mixed doubles titles at

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 Peter Lundgren (born 29 January 1965) is a former professional male tennis player and tennis coach from Sweden. He preferred playing indoors, hardcourt and on grass to clay. Playing career Lundgren was one of the second generation of Swedish ...

). As a singles player, he reached the fourth round at Wimbledon twice – in 1992 and 1994 – losing on both occasions to France's

Guy Forget Guy Forget (; born 4 January 1965) is a French tennis administrator and retired professional player. During his career, he helped France win the Davis Cup in both 1991 and 1996. Since retiring as a player, he has served as France's Davis Cup te ...

. 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. He was also the first ever opponent of

Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors. Agassi is the second of five men to ach ...

in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, in the first round of the U.S. Open in 1986, winning in four sets. Bates won one top-level singles title during his career – at

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

in 1994 when he was aged 31, becoming the first British male to win an ATP tour title since 1977 (he was the oldest champion on the tour that season). He also won three men's doubles titles at

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

(1989),

Queen's Club The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships men's grass court lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "cinch Championships" for sponsorship reas ...

(1990), and

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

(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)

Mixed doubles: 2 (2 wins)

Career finals

Singles (1 win)

Doubles (3 wins, 1 loss)

+ 7 losses

Grand Slam performance timeline

Singles

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. He is also a motivational speaker on team building.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Jeremy 1962 births Australian Open (tennis) champions English male tennis players Hopman Cup competitors Living people Sportspeople from Solihull Tennis people from Greater London Tennis players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Wimbledon champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles British male tennis players Olympic tennis players of Great Britain