Jeremy Bates (tennis)

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Jeremy Bates (tennis) bigraphy, stories - British tennis player

Jeremy Bates (tennis) : biography

19 June 1962 –

Michael Jeremy Bates, commonly known as Jeremy Bates, (born 19 June 1962) is a former professional tennis player from the United Kingdom. He was born in Solihull, England. During his career he won 1 singles title, 3 doubles titles and 2 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. After retiring from the professional circuit, he has served as the captain of Britain’s Davis Cup team.

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 has since been working as a broadcaster and commentator for the BBC, Eurosport and SKY. In March 2011 he also became the individual coach of former British Number 1 Anne Keothavong.

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, he 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. He was also the first ever opponent of Andre Agassi 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 in 1994 when he was aged 31 (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. His career-high rankings were World No. 54 in singles (in 1995) and World No. 25 in doubles (in 1991).

Career finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
Year-End Championships (0–0)
Grand Slam Cup (0–0)
Super 9 / ATP Masters Series (0–0)
ATP Championship Series / International Series Gold (0–0)
ATP Tour (1–0)
Titles by Surface
Hard (1–0)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Titles by Surface
Outdoors (1–0)
Indoors (0–0)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final
Winner 1. 24 April 1994 Seoul, South Korea Hard GER}} Joern Renzenbrink 6–4, 6–7(5), 6–3

Doubles: 3 finals (3)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
Year-End Championships (0–0)
Grand Slam Cup (0–0)
Super 9 / ATP Masters Series (0–0)
ATP Championship Series / International Series Gold (0–0)
ATP Tour (3–0)
Titles by Surface
Hard (1–0)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (1–0)
Carpet (1–0)
Titles by Surface
Outdoors (1–0)
Indoors (0–0)