Bale started playing tennis at the age of nine. In 1987 he stood at the side of David Nainkin in the double semifinals of the junior tournament of the French Open , where they were defeated in straight sets by Jim Courier and Jonathan Stark . At the junior tournament of Wimbledon of the same year he also reached the semifinals together with Nicolás Pereira . As an amateur, he won the double title of the ATP Challenger tournament in Johannesburg in 1989 with David Nainkin . In 1991 he became a professional tennis player. By 1993 he won a total of four double titles on the ATP Challenger Tour, three of them with Nainkin. In Durban , South Africa , he achieved his greatest success to date, winning the title of the doubles competition at the local ATP tournament . In the course of his career he was able to win four double titles on the ATP World Tour with changing partners. He reached his highest ranking in the tennis world rankings in 1993 with position 177 in singles and in 1995 position 27 in doubles.
His best individual result in a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the second round of the US Open in 1993 , when he defeated the German Carsten Arriens as a qualifier and then lost to Thomas Enqvist in four sets . In the doubles competition he reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 1994 with Brett Steven . At the side of Amanda Coetzer , he was also in the quarter-finals of the mixed competition of the French Open in the same year .
South Africa
.svg){kind=small}
Durban
Byron Black
Coral Springs
Brett Steven
Tel Aviv
Jan Apell Jonas Björkman
Munich
Stephen Noteboom
