Michael Hill (tennis)

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.

Michael Robert Hill
Country (sports) Australia
ResidenceSydney, Australia
Born (1974-06-30) 30 June 1974 (age 49)
Sydney, Australia
Height1.87 m (6 ft 1+12 in)
Turned pro1997
Retired2005
PlaysRight-handed
CollegeUniversity 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 Open2R (2000)
French OpenQ2 (2000)
WimbledonQ3 (1997, 1998, 1999)
US OpenQ2 (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 Open3R (2001)
French OpenSF (2001)
Wimbledon3R (2001)
US Open3R (2001)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian OpenSF (2002)
French OpenQF (2002)
Wimbledon2R (2004)
US Open2R (2001)
Last updated on: 7 July 2021.

Career edit

College edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

Doubles: 9 (3 titles, 6 runner-ups) edit

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
Loss0–1Oct 2000Tokyo, JapanChampionship SeriesHard Jeff Tarango Mahesh Bhupathi
Leander Paes
4–6, 7–6(7–1), 3–6
Win1–1Nov 2000Brighton, United KingdomWorld SeriesHard Jeff Tarango Paul Goldstein
Jim Thomas
6–3, 7–5
Loss1–2Feb 2001Marseille, FranceWorld SeriesHard Jeff Tarango Fabrice Santoro
Julien Boutter
6–7(7–9), 5–7
Win2–2Apr 2001Casablanca, MoroccoWorld SeriesClay Jeff Tarango David Macpherson
Pablo Albano
7–6(7–2), 6–3
Loss2–3Jul 2001Gstaad, SwitzerlandWorld SeriesClay Jeff Tarango Roger Federer
Marat Safin
1–0 ret.
Loss2–4Jul 2001Stuttgart, GermanyChampionship SeriesClay Jeff Tarango Guillermo Cañas
Rainer Schüttler
6–4, 6–7(1–7), 4–6
Win3–4Apr 2002Barcelona, SpainChampionship SeriesClay Daniel Vacek Lucas Arnold Ker
Gastón Etlis
6–4, 6–4
Loss3–5May 2002St Pölten, AustriaWorld SeriesClay Mike Bryan Petr Pála
David Rikl
5–7, 4–6
Loss3–6Jul 2002Båstad, SwedenWorld SeriesClay Paul Hanley Jonas Björkman
Todd Woodbridge
6–7(6–8), 4–6

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals edit

Singles: 4 (3–1) edit

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 BeachFuturesClay Ronald Agénor3–6, 3–6
Win1–1Jun 1998Ireland F1, DublinFuturesCarpet Noam Okun4–6, 6–4, 6–3
Win2–1Aug 1998Tijuana, MexicoChallengerHard Alejandro Hernández7–5, 6–1
Win3–1Jul 1999Aptos, United StatesChallengerHard Harel Levy6–7, 6–4, 6–2

Doubles: 15 (11–4) edit

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 BeachFuturesClay Scott Humphries Simon Aspelin
Chris Tontz
4–6, 4–6
Win1–1Jun 1998Ireland F2, DublinFuturesCarpet Scott Humphries Jeff Coetzee
Damien Roberts
3–6, 6–3, 6–2
Win2–1Jul 1998Denver, United StatesChallengerHard Glenn Weiner Justin Bower
Troy Budgen
7–6, 6–4
Win3–1Aug 1998Tijuana, MexicoChallengerHard Scott Humphries Mitch Sprengelmeyer
Eric Taino
6–3, 6–2
Loss3–2Oct 1998Dallas, United StatesChallengerHard Scott Humphries Jared Palmer
Jonathan Stark
3–6, 4–6
Loss3–3Oct 1998San Antonio, United StatesChallengerHard Scott Humphries Michael Sell
David Di Lucia
3–6, 1–6
Loss3–4Oct 1998San Diego, United StatesChallengerHard Scott Humphries Adam Peterson
Paul Goldstein
2–6, 5–7
Win4–4Feb 1999Cherbourg, FranceChallengerHard Andrew Painter Massimo Bertolini
Cristian Brandi
7–5, 7–6
Win5–4Mar 1999Magdeburg, GermanyChallengerCarpet Andrew Painter Jan-Ralph Brandt
Dirk Dier
7–6, 6–7, 7–6
Win6–4Jul 1999Aptos, United StatesChallengerHard Andrew Painter Harel Levy
Lior Mor
7–6, 1–6, 7–5
Win7–4Oct 1999Hong Kong, Hong KongChallengerHard Neville Godwin Bob Bryan
Mike Bryan
3–6, 7–5, 7–6
Win8–4Feb 2000Amarillo, United StatesChallengerHard Brian Macphie Brandon Coupe
Michael Sell
7–5, 6–2
Win9–4Feb 2000Ho Chi Minh City, VietnamChallengerHard Todd Woodbridge Irakli Labadze
Kevin Ullyett
6–3, 6–4
Win10–4Mar 2000Singapore, SingaporeChallengerHard Neville Godwin Nathan Healey
Paul Hanley
6–4, 6–1
Win11–4Mar 2000Hamilton, New ZealandChallengerHard Neville Godwin Michael Joyce
Jim Thomas
7–6(7–4), 6–4

Performance timelines edit

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 edit

Tournament19961997199819992000SRW–LWin %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian OpenQ1Q2Q1Q32R0 / 11–150%
French OpenAAAQ1Q20 / 00–0 – 
WimbledonAQ3Q3Q3Q20 / 00–0 – 
US OpenAQ1Q2Q2A0 / 00–0 – 
Win–loss0–00–00–00–01–10 / 11–150%
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Cincinnati MastersAAAQ1A0 / 00–0 – 
Win–loss0–00–00–00–00–00 / 00–0 – 

Doubles edit

Tournament1999200020012002200320042005SRW–LWin %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian OpenA2R3R2R1RA1R0 / 54–544%
French OpenAQFSF1RA1RA0 / 46–460%
Wimbledon1R1R3R1RA1RA0 / 52–529%
US Open2R1R3R2RAAA0 / 44–450%
Win–loss1–24–49–42–40–10–20–10 / 1816–1847%
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Indian WellsAAQF1RAAA0 / 22–250%
Miami OpenQ2A3R1RAAA0 / 21–233%
Monte CarloAQ11R1RAAA0 / 21–233%
RomeAA1R2RAAA0 / 21–233%
MadridNot Held2RAAA0 / 11–150%
HamburgAA1R2RAAA0 / 21–250%
Canada MastersAA2RQFAAA0 / 23–260%
CincinnatiQ12R2R1RAAA0 / 32–340%
StuttgartA1RQFNot Held0 / 22–250%
Paris MastersAQF2R2RAAA0 / 34–357%
Win–loss0–03–37–88–90–00–00–00 / 2118–2146%

Mixed doubles edit

Tournament20002001200220032004SRW–LWin %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open2R1RSF1RA0 / 44–450%
French Open2RAQFAA0 / 23–260%
Wimbledon1R1R1RA2R0 / 41–420%
US OpenA2R1RAA0 / 21–233%
Win–loss2–31–35–40–11–10 / 129–1243%

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Michael Hill". ATP World Tour. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  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.

External links edit