Tim Mayotte
ResidenceNew York City, New York, U.S.
Birth dateAugust 3, 1960 (age 66)
Birth placeSpringfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Height1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Turnedpro1981
Retired1992
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney$2,663,672
Singlesrecord340–202
Singlestitles12
HighestsinglesrankingNo. 7 (October 31, 1988)
AustralianopenresultSF (1983)
Frenchopenresult2R (1988, 1989)
WimbledonresultSF (1982)
UsopenresultQF (1989)
Othertournamentsyes
MasterscupresultQF (1985)
WctfinalsresultF (1985)
OlympicsresultF (1988)
Doublesrecord38–57
Doublestitles1
HighestdoublesrankingNo. 66 (January 3, 1983)
Medaltemplates-expandyes

Timothy Mayotte (born August 3, 1960) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 7 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Mayotte won twelve singles titles during his career.

Professional career

A tall serve-and-volleyer, Mayotte learned to play the game on the public courts of Forest Park in his hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts. He played tennis for Stanford University in the early-1980s and won the NCAA singles title in 1981.

Mayotte won his first top-level professional singles title in 1985 at the inaugural Lipton International Players Championships (now known as the Miami Masters). Other career highlights included winning the Queen's Club Championships in London in 1986, capturing the Paris Indoor title in 1987, and winning the men's singles silver medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. Mayotte beat almost every great player of his era including Agassi, Sampras, Edberg, Becker, Noah, Connors, Michael Chang etc.

His best performances in Grand Slam tournaments came in reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon in 1982 and the Australian Open in 1983. He also reached the quarterfinals of the US Open in 1989. Mayotte brought home a Silver Medal in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. It was the only competition his mother Mary watched in person.

During his career, Mayotte won 12 singles titles and one doubles title. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 7. His final singles title was won in 1989 at Washington DC. Mayotte retired from the professional tour in 1992.

He was hired by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to serve as a national coach in July 2009. "Tennis Magazine" voted him one of Tennis' Heros in 2018 because of his stand on improving the standards of coaching in the United States.

Mayotte was the youngest of a great tennis family that sprung out of Springfield. Mayotte's older brother Chris also played on the international tennis tour for a few seasons reaching as high as 80 ATP. Their older brother John was the number one junior player in New England and later one of the top players in the New England Tennis Stars (NETS), a tour started by Ted Hoehn in the late 1970s and 1980s.[citation needed]. Mary Mayotte was a great junior player in New England but sadly played before Title 9 forced colleges to offer scholarships to women.

Tim Mayotte's agent was his brother in law Tom Ford along with his brother John. John went to work as a tennis agent working for Donald Dell's ProServ. There, he managed top-ten and All-American players on the ATP and WTA Tours. His clients included Amanda Coetzer and Greg Rusedski, who became semifinalist and finalists at the French Open and US Open consecutively.

Coach with USTA Player Development Program

After working as a coach for USTA Player Development under General Manager Patrick McEnroe, Mayotte spoke publicly about his experiences:

"One big issue and an expression of the pervading arrogance is that the bosses there at the USTA PD have no willingness or ability to deeply discuss ideas and methods. They want to produce great, strong independent players who can be flexible and adjust and yet they (the bosses) do not display any of these qualities. We have cultural dissonance of the highest and most destructive order going on there. Jose, and to a tragic level, Patrick feel somehow by virtue of their celebrity that their "magic" will rub off on people they control. What they are too lost to see is the word "development" in PD. As you know so well, building healthy individuals means walking thru [sic.] the trenches with them and helping them analyze the moral, mental, and emotional choices they (and the parents) have to make and develop a healthy strong person in the process. Hard to do when you are dictating from a broadcast booth and a board room."[1]

Career finals

Singles 23 (12 titles, 11 runner-ups)

Legend
Year-end championships (0–1)
Grand Prix Super Series (0–1)
Summer Olympics (0–1)
ATP Championship Series (0–1)
Grand Prix Regular Series (12–7)
Finals by surface
Hard (4–2)
Grass (1–2)
Clay (0–0)
Carpet (7–7)
ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss1.Oct 1981Maui, U.S.HardHank Pfister4–6, 4–6
Loss2.Mar 1982Strasbourg WCT, FranceCarpet (i)Ivan Lendl0–6, 5–7, 1–6
Loss3.Jun 1982Bristol, EnglandGrassJohn Alexander3–6, 4–6
Loss4.Jul 1984Newport, U.S.GrassVijay Amritraj6–3, 4–6, 4–6
Win1.Feb 1985Delray Beach, U.S.HardScott Davis4–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–2, 6–4
Loss5.Apr 1985WCT Finals, DallasCarpet (i)Ivan Lendl6–7(4–7), 4–6, 1–6
Loss6.Feb 1986Philadelphia, U.S.Carpet (i)Ivan Lendlw/o
Win2.Jun 1986London Queen's Club, EnglandGrassJimmy Connors6–4, 2–1 ret.
Win3.Feb 1987Philadelphia, U.S.Carpet (i)John McEnroe3–6, 6–1, 6–3, 6–1
Win4.Apr 1987Chicago, U.S.Carpet (i)David Pate6–4, 6–2
Win5.Oct 1987Toulouse, FranceCarpet (i)Ricki Osterthun6–2, 5–7, 6–4
Win6.Nov 1987Paris Indoor, FranceCarpet (i)Brad Gilbert2–6, 6–3, 7–5, 6–7(5–7), 6–3
Win7.Nov 1987Frankfurt, West GermanyCarpet (i)Andrés Gómez7–6(8–6), 6–4
Win8.Feb 1988Philadelphia, U.S.Carpet (i)John Fitzgerald4–6, 6–2, 6–2, 6–3
Win9.Jul 1988Schenectady, U.S.HardJohan Kriek5–7, 6–3, 6–2
Loss7.Sep 1988Summer Olympics, SeoulHardMiloslav Mečíř6–3, 2–6, 4–6, 2–6
Win10.Oct 1988Brisbane, AustraliaHard (i)Marty Davis6–4, 6–4
Win11.Oct 1988Frankfurt, West GermanyCarpet (i)Leonardo Lavalle4–6, 6–4, 6–3
Loss8.Feb 1989Philadelphia, U.S.Carpet (i)Boris Becker6–7(4–7), 1–6, 3–6
Win12.Jul 1989Washington DC, U.S.HardBrad Gilbert3–6, 6–4, 7–5
Loss9.Feb 1990Milan, ItalyCarpet (i)Ivan Lendl3–6, 2–6
Loss10.Feb 1990Toronto Indoor, CanadaCarpet (i)Ivan Lendl3–6, 0–6
Loss11.Nov 1990Moscow, Soviet UnionCarpet (i)Andrei Cherkasov2–6, 1–6

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Tournament197819791980198119821983198419851986198719881989199019911992Career SR
Australian OpenAA1RQF3RSF2R4RNHAAA1RAA0 / 7
French OpenAAAA1R1R1RAAA2R2RAAA0 / 5
WimbledonAAAQFSFQF4R4RQF3RQFQF1R4RA0 / 11
US OpenA1R1R3R2R1R4R4R1R2R3RQF1R1RA0 / 13
Strike rate0 / 00 / 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 30 / 20 / 20 / 30 / 30 / 30 / 20 / 00 / 36
Year-end ranking43642017133301644121591013371151097N/A

References

  1. ^ Browne, Doug. "The Battle Rages On Between Wayne Bryan & Patrick McEnroe". Coastal Breeze News. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.