Michael T. Joyce (born February 1, 1973) is an American coach and former tennis player. The right-hander reached his highest ATP singles ranking of world No. 64 in April 1996.
Tennis career
Juniors Joyce and then-friend Erik Menendez"What Do Agassi and the Menendez Brothers Have in Common?" by David Johnson Psychology Today (November 30, 2009); retrieved May 16, 2023 NOTE: Article erroneously states Menendez and Joyce played doubles at the 1989 Boys' USTA entered the 1989 Boys' Junior National Tennis Championship,"1989 Draw Sheet, USTA Boys' 16 & Boys' 18 National Championship" web.archive.org retrieved May 16, 2023 shortly before Erik and his brother Lyle were charged with the murder of the Menendez’ parents. Joyce beat Ian Williams in the 1st round of the Boys' 18 singles but lost to Jonathan Stark in the quarterfinals. He reached the finals of the Wimbledon Boys' event in 1991, losing to Thomas Enqvist.
Professional tennis player On the professional tour, he won 3 Challenger events and reached the 4th round of the 1995 Wimbledon Championships defeating Marc Rosset, Jordi Burillo and Chris Wilkinson, before being defeated by Shuzo Matsuoka. He won the men's singles in the Ojai Tennis Tournament in 2004. Pat Rafter, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Jim Courier, and Michael Chang were among those Joyce beat. He was 46–67 overall, going 1–10 against top 10 players.
He was the subject of an essay by David Foster Wallace in Esquire; the essay was later republished in Wallace's collections A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again and String Theory.
Coaching Joyce was the coach of Maria Sharapova, along with her father, Yuri Sharapov, from summer 2004 until January 2011, when he was replaced by Thomas Högstedt. During his tenure, Sharapova won three Grand Slam singles titles and reached the World No. 1 ranking.
Joyce coached American tennis player Jessica Pegula from 2012 to 2017. While with Joyce, in 2013 before suffering from an injury, Pegula reached a career high singles world ranking of 123 and a doubles world ranking of 92.
In 2017, Joyce coached former world number one Victoria Azarenka for 8 months after she returned to competition following maternity leave. However, with family issues interrupting her schedule, the pair split at the end of the year, and Joyce took up the position of coach to Johanna Konta. In October 2018, Joyce split ways with Konta and began coaching Eugenie Bouchard. In April 2019, Joyce split ways with Bouchard; two months later he started to work with Tímea Babos. In 2021, Joyce joined USTA Player Development as a women's tennis national coach.
He coached Ashlyn Krueger from 2021 to 2025.
In January 2026, it was announced that Katie Boulter had hired Joyce as her new coach.
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 10 (6–4) LegendATP Challenger (3–3)ITF Futures (3–1)Finals by surfaceHard (6–4)Clay (0–0)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreWin1–0Puerto Vallarta, MexicoChallengerHard Leonardo Lavalle6–1, 7–6Loss1–1Seoul, South KoreaChallengerHard David Nainkin7–6, 3–6, 5–7Loss1–2Glendale, United StatesChallengerHard Christian Ruud1–6, 3–6Win2–2[São Luís, BrazilChallengerHard Roger Smith6–3, 6–7, 7–6Win3–2USA F10, PhoenixFuturesHard Thomas Blake6–4, 6–4Win4–2[Hamilton, New ZealandChallengerHard Gouichi Motomura4–6, 6–4, 6–4Loss4–3Tarzana, United StatesChallengerHard Levar Harper-Griffith6–7(6–8), 3–6Win5–3USA F27, HammondFuturesHard Tripp Phillips7–6(10–8), 7–6(7–1)Win6–3Great Britain F4, RedbridgeFuturesHard Stefano Pescosolido6–4, 3–6, 6–2Loss6–4USA F6, MobileFuturesHard Peter Clarke6–7(6–8), 4–6
Doubles: 11 (4–7) LegendATP Challenger (2–6)ITF Futures (2–1)Finals by surfaceHard (4–5)Clay (0–0)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–2)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss0–1Singapore, SingaporeChallengerHard Scott Melville Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes4–6, 6–4, 6–7Loss0–2Flushing Meadows, United StatesChallengerHard David Witt Geoff Grant Mark Merklein1–6, 4–6Loss0–3Japan F6, FukuokaFuturesCarpet Kyle Spencer Tasuku Iwami Ryuso Tsujino6–4, 6–7, 4–6Loss0–4Yokohama, JapanChallengerCarpet Kyle Spencer Satoshi Iwabuchi Thomas Shimada2–6, 4–6Loss0–5[Hamilton, New ZealandChallengerHard Jim Thomas Neville Godwin Michael Hill6–7(4–7), 4–6Win1–5USA F17, ChicoFuturesHard Luke Smith Zack Fleishman Robert Kendrick7–6(7–3), 6–7(3–7), 6–1Win2–5Tarzana, United StatesChallengerHard Zack Fleishman Kyle Spencer Glenn Weiner6–1, 5–7, 7–6(8–6)Win3–5Granby, CanadaChallengerHard Noam Behr Thomas Dupre Simon Larose6–0, 6–3Loss3–6Belo Horizonte, BrazilChallengerHard Denis Golovanov Daniel Melo Marcelo Melo3–6, 4–6Loss3–7Gramado, BrazilChallengerHard Denis Golovanov Alessandro Guevara Dejan Petrovic6–3, 5–7, 2–6Win4–7USA F6, MobileFuturesHard Kevin Kim Josh Goffi Travis Parrott6–7(0–7), 6–3, 7–5
Junior Grand Slam finals Singles: 1 (1 runner-up) ResultYearChampionshipsSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss1991WimbledonGrass Thomas Enqvist4–6, 2–6
Performance timelines
Singles Tournament1991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAQ1AQ2A2R2RAQ3AQ2AA0 / 22–2French OpenAAAQ1A1RAQ1AQ1AAA0 / 10–1WimbledonAAQ2Q14R1RQ2Q1Q3Q1Q1Q1Q10 / 23–2US Open2RQ12RA1R1R1RQ2Q2Q1Q3Q1Q10 / 52–5Win–loss1–10–01–10–03–21–41–20–00–00–00–00–00–00 / 107–10ATP Tour Masters 1000Indian Wells MastersAAAAQ13RQ2Q2AAAQ1Q10 / 12–1Miami OpenAAQ3Q23RQF1RAAAAAA0 / 36–3Canada MastersAAAA2RAAAQ2Q1AAA0 / 11–1Cincinnati MastersAAAAA1RAAQ2Q1AAA0 / 10–1Win–loss0–00–00–00–03–26–30–10–00–00–00–00–00–00 / 69–6
Doubles Tournament1993199419951996199719981999SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAAAAAAA0 / 00–0French OpenAAAAAAA0 / 00–0WimbledonQ2A1RAAQ2A0 / 10–1US Open1RA1R1RAQ1Q10 / 30–3Win–loss0–10–00–20–10–00–00–00 / 40–4ATP Tour Masters 1000Indian Wells MastersAAAQ1AAA0 / 00–0Miami OpenAAQ2AAAA0 / 00–0Canada MastersAAAAAA2R0 / 11–1Win–loss0–00–00–00–00–00–01–10 / 11–1
References
External links
Esquire: "The String Theory," July 1996