Bauer studied at the University of California at Berkeley and was voted into the top selection All-American . In 1981 he celebrated his first two double titles on the ATP World Tour . The following year he won his first individual title in Bangkok. He won a second title in Adelaide , which he was able to defend the following year. In 1983 he also won two more double titles, including the Sydney tournament , which he won alongside Pat Cash . The following year he was singles three times in a semi-finals and in the double-finals of the Melbourne tournament . A long dry spell followed in Bauer's career, as a result of which he switched to the ATP Challenger Tour , where he mainly played until the early 1990s. Although he could not win any titles on the Challenger Tour, he reached the individual finals of Berkeley and Bloemfontein , among others . During this time, his double partners included Luke Jensen , Udo Riglewski and Alexander Mronz .
In 1992 he achieved tournament success for the first time in nearly a decade when he won the Tel Aviv double title . In 1993 two more double titles followed. In addition, he was in four other finals with changing partners, including at the Gerry Weber Open with Marc-Kevin Goellner and in Vienna with David Prinosil . He won his last title in 1994 at the side of David Rikl again in Vienna against Greg Rusedski and the local hero Alexander Antonitsch .
In total, he won nine ATP double titles in the course of his career. Another six times he was in a double-final. He reached his highest ranking in the tennis world rankings in 1984 with position 29 in singles and 1983 with position 25 in doubles.
His best individual result in a Grand Slam tournament was the third round participation in Wimbledon 1983, where he was defeated by the later finalist Chris Lewis . In the doubles competition he reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open , the French Open and the US Open .