Michael Hill (tennis)

Last updated

Michael Robert Hill
Country (sports)Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia
Residence Sydney, Australia
Born (1974-06-30) 30 June 1974 (age 48)
Sydney, Australia
Height1.87 m (6 ft 1+12 in)
Turned pro1997
Retired2005
PlaysRight-handed
College University of California, Berkeley
Prize money$601,306 [1]
Singles
Career record2–5 (Grand Slam, ATP Tour level, and Davis Cup)
Career titles0
2 Challenger, 1 Futures
Highest rankingNo. 168 (19 July 1999) [1]
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open 2R (2000)
French Open Q2 (2000)
Wimbledon Q3 (1997, 1998, 1999)
US Open Q2 (1998, 1999)
Doubles
Career record104–100 (Grand Slam, ATP Tour level, and Davis Cup)
Career titles3
10 Challenger, 1 Futures
Highest rankingNo. 18 (30 July 2001) [1]
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open 3R (2001)
French Open SF (2001)
Wimbledon 3R (2001)
US Open 3R (2001)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open SF (2002)
French Open QF (2002)
Wimbledon 2R (2004)
US Open 2R (2001)
Last updated on: 7 July 2021.

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.

Contents

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; [2] 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. [1] 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 [1] 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. [1] 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. [3]

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. [4] 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. [1]

Personal

His father, Robert was the CFO of Abacus Property a publicly listed property development company. [1] He has two siblings: younger brother Patrick and one older sister Carmel. [1]

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 surface
Hard (1–2)
Clay (2–4)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoor (3–5)
Indoor (0–1)
ResultW–L   Date   TournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss0–1 Oct 2000 Tokyo, JapanChampionship SeriesHard Flag of the United States.svg Jeff Tarango Flag of India.svg Mahesh Bhupathi
Flag of India.svg Leander Paes
4–6, 7–6(7–1), 3–6
Win1–1 Nov 2000 Brighton, United KingdomWorld SeriesHard Flag of the United States.svg Jeff Tarango Flag of the United States.svg Paul Goldstein
Flag of the United States.svg Jim Thomas
6–3, 7–5
Loss1–2 Feb 2001 Marseille, FranceWorld SeriesHard Flag of the United States.svg Jeff Tarango Flag of France.svg Fabrice Santoro
Flag of France.svg Julien Boutter
6–7(7–9), 5–7
Win2–2 Apr 2001 Casablanca, MoroccoWorld SeriesClay Flag of the United States.svg Jeff Tarango Flag of Australia (converted).svg David Macpherson
Flag of Argentina.svg Pablo Albano
7–6(7–2), 6–3
Loss2–3 Jul 2001 Gstaad, SwitzerlandWorld SeriesClay Flag of the United States.svg Jeff Tarango Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Roger Federer
Flag of Russia.svg Marat Safin
1–0 ret.
Loss2–4 Jul 2001 Stuttgart, GermanyChampionship SeriesClay Flag of the United States.svg Jeff Tarango Flag of Argentina.svg Guillermo Cañas
Flag of Germany.svg Rainer Schüttler
6–4, 6–7(1–7), 4–6
Win3–4 Apr 2002 Barcelona, SpainChampionship SeriesClay Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Daniel Vacek Flag of Argentina.svg Lucas Arnold Ker
Flag of Argentina.svg Gastón Etlis
6–4, 6–4
Loss3–5 May 2002 St Pölten, AustriaWorld SeriesClay Flag of the United States.svg Mike Bryan Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Petr Pála
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg David Rikl
5–7, 4–6
Loss3–6 Jul 2002 Båstad, SwedenWorld SeriesClay Flag of Australia (converted).svg Paul Hanley Flag of Sweden.svg Jonas Björkman
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Todd Woodbridge
6–7(6–8), 4–6

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 4 (3–1)

Legend
ATP Challenger (2–0)
ITF Futures (1–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (2–0)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (1–0)
ResultW–L   Date   TournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss0–1May 1998USA F1, Delray Beach FuturesClay Flag of Haiti.svg Ronald Agénor 3–6, 3–6
Win1–1Jun 1998Ireland F1, Dublin FuturesCarpet Flag of Israel.svg Noam Okun 4–6, 6–4, 6–3
Win2–1Aug 1998 Tijuana, MexicoChallengerHard Flag of Mexico.svg Alejandro Hernández 7–5, 6–1
Win3–1Jul 1999 Aptos, United StatesChallengerHard Flag of Israel.svg Harel Levy 6–7, 6–4, 6–2

Doubles: 15 (11–4)

Legend
ATP Challenger (10–3)
ITF Futures (1–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (9–3)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (2–0)
ResultW–L   Date   TournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss0–1May 1998USA F1, Delray Beach FuturesClay Flag of the United States.svg Scott Humphries Flag of Sweden.svg Simon Aspelin
Flag of the United States.svg Chris Tontz
4–6, 4–6
Win1–1Jun 1998Ireland F2, Dublin FuturesCarpet Flag of the United States.svg Scott Humphries Flag of South Africa.svg Jeff Coetzee
Flag of South Africa.svg Damien Roberts
3–6, 6–3, 6–2
Win2–1Jul 1998 Denver, United StatesChallengerHard Flag of the United States.svg Glenn Weiner Flag of South Africa.svg Justin Bower
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Troy Budgen
7–6, 6–4
Win3–1Aug 1998 Tijuana, MexicoChallengerHard Flag of the United States.svg Scott Humphries Flag of the United States.svg Mitch Sprengelmeyer
Flag of the United States.svg Eric Taino
6–3, 6–2
Loss3–2Oct 1998 Dallas, United StatesChallengerHard Flag of the United States.svg Scott Humphries Flag of the United States.svg Jared Palmer
Flag of the United States.svg Jonathan Stark
3–6, 4–6
Loss3–3Oct 1998 San Antonio, United StatesChallengerHard Flag of the United States.svg Scott Humphries Flag of the United States.svg Michael Sell
Flag of the United States.svg David Di Lucia
3–6, 1–6
Loss3–4Oct 1998 San Diego, United StatesChallengerHard Flag of the United States.svg Scott Humphries Flag of the United States.svg Adam Peterson
Flag of the United States.svg Paul Goldstein
2–6, 5–7
Win4–4Feb 1999 Cherbourg, FranceChallengerHard Flag of Australia (converted).svg Andrew Painter Flag of Italy.svg Massimo Bertolini
Flag of Italy.svg Cristian Brandi
7–5, 7–6
Win5–4Mar 1999 Magdeburg, GermanyChallengerCarpet Flag of Australia (converted).svg Andrew Painter Flag of Germany.svg Jan-Ralph Brandt
Flag of Germany.svg Dirk Dier
7–6, 6–7, 7–6
Win6–4Jul 1999 Aptos, United StatesChallengerHard Flag of Australia (converted).svg Andrew Painter Flag of Israel.svg Harel Levy
Flag of Israel.svg Lior Mor
7–6, 1–6, 7–5
Win7–4Oct 1999Hong Kong, Hong KongChallengerHard Flag of South Africa.svg Neville Godwin Flag of the United States.svg Bob Bryan
Flag of the United States.svg Mike Bryan
3–6, 7–5, 7–6
Win8–4Feb 2000 Amarillo, United StatesChallengerHard Flag of the United States.svg Brian Macphie Flag of the United States.svg Brandon Coupe
Flag of the United States.svg Michael Sell
7–5, 6–2
Win9–4Feb 2000 Ho Chi Minh City, VietnamChallengerHard Flag of Australia (converted).svg Todd Woodbridge Flag of Georgia.svg Irakli Labadze
Flag of South Africa.svg Kevin Ullyett
6–3, 6–4
Win10–4Mar 2000 Singapore, SingaporeChallengerHard Flag of South Africa.svg Neville Godwin Flag of Australia (converted).svg Nathan Healey
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Paul Hanley
6–4, 6–1
Win11–4Mar 2000 Hamilton, New ZealandChallengerHard Flag of South Africa.svg Neville Godwin Flag of the United States.svg Michael Joyce
Flag of the United States.svg Jim Thomas
7–6(7–4), 6–4

Performance timelines

Key
W F SFQF#RRRQ#DNQANH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

Tournament 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 SRW–LWin %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open Q1 Q2 Q1 Q3 2R 0 / 11–150%
French Open AAA Q1 Q2 0 / 00–0  
Wimbledon A Q3 Q3 Q3 Q2 0 / 00–0  
US Open A Q1 Q2 Q2 A0 / 00–0  
Win–loss0–00–00–00–01–10 / 11–150%
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Cincinnati Masters AAA Q1 A0 / 00–0  
Win–loss0–00–00–00–00–00 / 00–0  

Doubles

Tournament 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 SRW–LWin %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A 2R 3R 2R 1R A 1R 0 / 54–544%
French Open A QF SF 1R A 1R A0 / 46–460%
Wimbledon 1R 1R 3R 1R A 1R A0 / 52–529%
US Open 2R 1R 3R 2R AAA0 / 44–450%
Win–loss1–24–49–42–40–10–20–10 / 1816–1847%
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells AA QF 1R AAA0 / 22–250%
Miami Open Q2 A 3R 1R AAA0 / 21–233%
Monte Carlo A Q1 1R 1R AAA0 / 21–233%
Rome AA 1R 2R AAA0 / 21–233%
Madrid Not Held 2R AAA0 / 11–150%
Hamburg AA 1R 2R AAA0 / 21–250%
Canada Masters AA 2R QF AAA0 / 23–260%
Cincinnati Q1 2R 2R 1R AAA0 / 32–340%
Stuttgart A 1R QF Not Held0 / 22–250%
Paris Masters A QF 2R 2R AAA0 / 34–357%
Win–loss0–03–37–88–90–00–00–00 / 2118–2146%

Mixed doubles

Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 SRW–LWin %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open 2R 1R SF 1R A0 / 44–450%
French Open 2R A QF AA0 / 23–260%
Wimbledon 1R 1R 1R A 2R 0 / 41–420%
US Open A 2R 1R AA0 / 21–233%
Win–loss2–31–35–40–11–10 / 129–1243%

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References

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  2. "Men's Tennis – All Time Awards". University of California. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  3. "Australian Open - January 17–30, 2000". Steve G Tennis. Archived from the original on 2 February 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  4. "French Open - May 28-June 10, 2001". Steve G Tennis. Archived from the original on 3 January 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2010.