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Michael Hill (tennis)

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Michael Robert Hill
Country (sports) Australia
ResidenceSydney, Australia
Born (1974-06-30) 30 June 1974 (age 50)
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.

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.

Career

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College

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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

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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

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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

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

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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)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Oct 2000 Tokyo, Japan Championship Series Hard United States Jeff Tarango India Mahesh Bhupathi
India Leander Paes
4–6, 7–6(7–1), 3–6
Win 1–1 Nov 2000 Brighton, United Kingdom World Series Hard United States Jeff Tarango United States Paul Goldstein
United States Jim Thomas
6–3, 7–5
Loss 1–2 Feb 2001 Marseille, France World Series Hard United States Jeff Tarango France Fabrice Santoro
France Julien Boutter
6–7(7–9), 5–7
Win 2–2 Apr 2001 Casablanca, Morocco World Series Clay United States Jeff Tarango Australia David Macpherson
Argentina Pablo Albano
7–6(7–2), 6–3
Loss 2–3 Jul 2001 Gstaad, Switzerland World Series Clay United States Jeff Tarango Switzerland Roger Federer
Russia Marat Safin
1–0 ret.
Loss 2–4 Jul 2001 Stuttgart, Germany Championship Series Clay United States Jeff Tarango Argentina Guillermo Cañas
Germany Rainer Schüttler
6–4, 6–7(1–7), 4–6
Win 3–4 Apr 2002 Barcelona, Spain Championship Series Clay Czech Republic Daniel Vacek Argentina Lucas Arnold Ker
Argentina Gastón Etlis
6–4, 6–4
Loss 3–5 May 2002 St Pölten, Austria World Series Clay United States Mike Bryan Czech Republic Petr Pála
Czech Republic David Rikl
5–7, 4–6
Loss 3–6 Jul 2002 Båstad, Sweden World Series Clay Australia Paul Hanley Sweden Jonas Björkman
Australia Todd Woodbridge
6–7(6–8), 4–6

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

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Singles: 4 (3–1)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (2–0)
ITF Futures (1–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (2–0)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (1–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 May 1998 USA F1, Delray Beach Futures Clay Haiti Ronald Agénor 3–6, 3–6
Win 1–1 Jun 1998 Ireland F1, Dublin Futures Carpet Israel Noam Okun 4–6, 6–4, 6–3
Win 2–1 Aug 1998 Tijuana, Mexico Challenger Hard Mexico Alejandro Hernández 7–5, 6–1
Win 3–1 Jul 1999 Aptos, United States Challenger Hard Israel Harel Levy 6–7, 6–4, 6–2

Doubles: 15 (11–4)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (10–3)
ITF Futures (1–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (9–3)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (2–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 May 1998 USA F1, Delray Beach Futures Clay United States Scott Humphries Sweden Simon Aspelin
United States Chris Tontz
4–6, 4–6
Win 1–1 Jun 1998 Ireland F2, Dublin Futures Carpet United States Scott Humphries South Africa Jeff Coetzee
South Africa Damien Roberts
3–6, 6–3, 6–2
Win 2–1 Jul 1998 Denver, United States Challenger Hard United States Glenn Weiner South Africa Justin Bower
Australia Troy Budgen
7–6, 6–4
Win 3–1 Aug 1998 Tijuana, Mexico Challenger Hard United States Scott Humphries United States Mitch Sprengelmeyer
United States Eric Taino
6–3, 6–2
Loss 3–2 Oct 1998 Dallas, United States Challenger Hard United States Scott Humphries United States Jared Palmer
United States Jonathan Stark
3–6, 4–6
Loss 3–3 Oct 1998 San Antonio, United States Challenger Hard United States Scott Humphries United States Michael Sell
United States David Di Lucia
3–6, 1–6
Loss 3–4 Oct 1998 San Diego, United States Challenger Hard United States Scott Humphries United States Adam Peterson
United States Paul Goldstein
2–6, 5–7
Win 4–4 Feb 1999 Cherbourg, France Challenger Hard Australia Andrew Painter Italy Massimo Bertolini
Italy Cristian Brandi
7–5, 7–6
Win 5–4 Mar 1999 Magdeburg, Germany Challenger Carpet Australia Andrew Painter Germany Jan-Ralph Brandt
Germany Dirk Dier
7–6, 6–7, 7–6
Win 6–4 Jul 1999 Aptos, United States Challenger Hard Australia Andrew Painter Israel Harel Levy
Israel Lior Mor
7–6, 1–6, 7–5
Win 7–4 Oct 1999 Hong Kong, Hong Kong Challenger Hard South Africa Neville Godwin United States Bob Bryan
United States Mike Bryan
3–6, 7–5, 7–6
Win 8–4 Feb 2000 Amarillo, United States Challenger Hard United States Brian Macphie United States Brandon Coupe
United States Michael Sell
7–5, 6–2
Win 9–4 Feb 2000 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Challenger Hard Australia Todd Woodbridge Georgia (country) Irakli Labadze
South Africa Kevin Ullyett
6–3, 6–4
Win 10–4 Mar 2000 Singapore, Singapore Challenger Hard South Africa Neville Godwin Australia Nathan Healey
Australia Paul Hanley
6–4, 6–1
Win 11–4 Mar 2000 Hamilton, New Zealand Challenger Hard South Africa Neville Godwin United States Michael Joyce
United States Jim Thomas
7–6(7–4), 6–4

Performance timelines

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(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

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Tournament 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open Q1 Q2 Q1 Q3 2R 0 / 1 1–1 50%
French Open A A A Q1 Q2 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Wimbledon A Q3 Q3 Q3 Q2 0 / 0 0–0  – 
US Open A Q1 Q2 Q2 A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–1 0 / 1 1–1 50%
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Cincinnati Masters A A A Q1 A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 0 0–0  – 

Doubles

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Tournament 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A 2R 3R 2R 1R A 1R 0 / 5 4–5 44%
French Open A QF SF 1R A 1R A 0 / 4 6–4 60%
Wimbledon 1R 1R 3R 1R A 1R A 0 / 5 2–5 29%
US Open 2R 1R 3R 2R A A A 0 / 4 4–4 50%
Win–loss 1–2 4–4 9–4 2–4 0–1 0–2 0–1 0 / 18 16–18 47%
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells A A QF 1R A A A 0 / 2 2–2 50%
Miami Open Q2 A 3R 1R A A A 0 / 2 1–2 33%
Monte Carlo A Q1 1R 1R A A A 0 / 2 1–2 33%
Rome A A 1R 2R A A A 0 / 2 1–2 33%
Madrid Not Held 2R A A A 0 / 1 1–1 50%
Hamburg A A 1R 2R A A A 0 / 2 1–2 50%
Canada Masters A A 2R QF A A A 0 / 2 3–2 60%
Cincinnati Q1 2R 2R 1R A A A 0 / 3 2–3 40%
Stuttgart A 1R QF Not Held 0 / 2 2–2 50%
Paris Masters A QF 2R 2R A A A 0 / 3 4–3 57%
Win–loss 0–0 3–3 7–8 8–9 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 21 18–21 46%

Mixed doubles

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Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open 2R 1R SF 1R A 0 / 4 4–4 50%
French Open 2R A QF A A 0 / 2 3–2 60%
Wimbledon 1R 1R 1R A 2R 0 / 4 1–4 20%
US Open A 2R 1R A A 0 / 2 1–2 33%
Win–loss 2–3 1–3 5–4 0–1 1–1 0 / 12 9–12 43%

References

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  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.
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