Bates bowing out in style

Ian Stafford meets the former British No 1 who has his heart set on enjoying the last Wimbledon of his career

Jeremy Bates has just lost a tennis match, seeing possible victory snatched away by a spirited comeback from an opponent ranked well below him in the world. Perhaps a couple of years ago it might not have been the best moment to have spent an hour with the man, sitting beside him watching the world go by and talking about, well, Jeremy Bates.

Yet, as he freely admits, there is a discernible difference now which, on the back of his decision to retire from the game this year, has become outwardly obvious. Not only is he more than prepared to chat away about his career but, possibly more surprisingly, he is brutally frank about himself. With Wimbledon upon us, Jeremy Bates, at 33, is under no illusions.

"I've noticed I've lost a bit of edge since I announced I would be calling it a day," he admits, looking anything but annoyed with himself after his defeat. "But I am also incredibly relaxed about everything and, on the basis that I play my best tennis at this time of the year, it can only help.

"I've been enjoying tennis for a long time now, but I've also been very serious about it. This year I'm just enjoying it and nothing's going to bother me. It's not hard to take defeat, for instance. I have to be realistic about it.

"It really infuriates me when I hear ex-sportsmen go on about how they were better in their day because it is absolute garbage. Everything moves on. The athlete 10 years ago is inferior to the athlete today. I hit with Tim Henman sometimes, and I can give him a good game, but the fact is that he is 12 years younger than me and almost plays a different sport to the one I know."

As if to emphasise the point, Bates recalls a self-deprecating moment. "I saw this tape of me playing in 1988. The boys at the LTA were all laughing at it and in the end I had to leave the room."

Why? "Well, it was like watching paint dry. Everything about it was so slow, and I was coming in on complete rubbish. If I played like that today it would be humiliating. That's what I mean by the evolution of the game."

Maybe, but in his time our boy Jeremy has, in current football parlance, done good. Britain's No 1 for seven years, between 1988 and 1995, his win-lose record in the Davis Cup was 27-25, he partnered Jo Durie to mixed doubles success both at Wimbledon in 1987, and Australia in 1991, became the first Britain to win an ATP tour event in 1994, and twice reached the fourth round at Wimbledon.

Not bad, especially when you also include the "Jezzamania" of 1992 and 1994 at Wimbledon, which turned Jeremy Bates into a household name. And yet, with a best world ranking of 54, he would have swapped much of this for a vastly improved position in the world.

"I was very proud to fight off all the domestic challenges for so long, but I would have preferred to have been No 5 in Britain, but in the world's top 30. I was working as hard as I could, training like a lunatic, playing tournaments week in, week out, so I could not have done much more, but what I really needed were British rivals better than me.

"Look at other countries. After Borg, Sweden produced a string of top players. It's the same in Germany after Becker. If I had a better British rival, who I was familiar with, and spent some time practising with, I would've said to myself: 'This guy's ranked 20th in the world, but I reckon I can play as well as him.' I would have related to him."

The other problem Bates can recognise stems from his early days as a touring professional. "When I was younger I had the worst problem for an athlete. I just wasn't especially confident, and was happy to be chasing balls all day long.

"You don't see anyone these days without their coach, but I didn't have enough input at an early enough stage. Nobody told me how to progress and develop my game. The fact that I wasn't very tolerant hardly helped matters either. In the end it happened because I grew older, and you can't buy maturity. That's why I suddenly started producing results at a seemingly late stage."

He knows that it is the time of year when the country goes tennis mad, and desperately wants to see this change. Only success, he believes, can do this. "It would shed this image that tennis only happens in June, and not during the rest of the year.

"I've actually had people coming up to me and asking what I do with myself the other 11 months of the year. I end up explaining that I play 35 tournaments, am away for eight months in the year and don't have any time for anything else except being at home with my wife and son, Joshua.

"Still, we're getting closer to success aren't we? I played well in 1992, Chris Bailey in 1993, myself and Andrew Foster in 1994, and Greg Rusedski last year. A British player is consistently making the second week which is no great shakes, but at least it generates more interest."

None, though, has been quite as intense as what the tabloids dubbed "Jezzamania" which began when Bates defeated Michael Chang, and continued throughout his passage through to the fourth round in 1992.

"I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about at first and it took me a couple of days to get used to it. I remember being quite hostile to start with because people were permanently outside my house, which I thought was a real imposition.

"The fact was I failed to appreciate the enormity of the impact, but it totally changed my life. Once I became comfortable I loved every minute of it. It felt like a reward for everything I'd worked for. That's when I realised that all the work and sacrifice had been worth it." It remains his biggest highlight. Winning the Seoul ATP tournament may have been his greatest achievement, and the Wimbledon mixed doubles title is one he will always cherish ("I have to smile when people still introduce me as the 1987 mixed doubles champion because it was a long time ago now"), but nothing quite tops Wimbledon 1991.

"I had a different expectation in 1994, because I'd won Beckenham and beaten Becker at Queen's so it was not such an adventure to get to the fourth round, and I was more used to the response. But 1992 was a different planet for me.

"I wish I'd responded to it more at the time," he admits. "Some people can do that, crack a joke and then concentrate on the next point, but I need to be fully tuned in, although not half as much as I used to. I'll definitely respond at Wimbledon this time."

This time happens to be his last time. Although he may play the odd low- key event next year, this is more or less it. His future will provide more time with his family, and a possible coach for this country. So, will we see a Jeremy Bates with his hair really down next week?

"I'll be giving it my best, and I really hope to generate some interest at Wimbledon, but I won't let any moment pass too quickly. I saw Henri Leconte crying when he finished at Roland Garros and I thought: "I won't do that. I'm not a very emotional person, and it may not even hit me until I've gone home."

Maybe, but surely you cannot just turn your back and walk into the sunset? Bates seems to be looking through me at this point, and ahead to that moment, some time in the next fortnight, when his last Wimbledon campaign is over.

"Oh no, I'll savour the moment when it all comes to an end," he says. "You'll notice that I'll be staying on court for a few minutes longer, just to say goodbye."