Background
McMillan was born in Springs, South Africa.
McMillan was born in Springs, South Africa.
He was also ranked Number.1 in Doubles on the Association of Tennis Professionals Computer for a significant period from 1977 to 1979 when he was aged 37. Aside from his success as a doubles player, he had a less distinguished singles career which is not well recorded although he did have some good results over the years, many of which occurred in South Africa. His best results in both came at the United States Open reaching the quarter finals in 1972 and the last 16 in 1976.
Arguably his greatest result was reaching the final of the 1970 South African Open held at Ellis Park.
He beat a raging Pancho Gonzales in the semi-final before losing to world no.1 Rod Laver in four sets in the final. At the time the South African Open with Italian and German Opens were rated the top three tournaments beneath the Grand Slams.
As late as 1979 McMillan reached the quarter-finals of the Fischer Open in Vienna. McMillan continued to play the tour for many years in doubles he played his last Wimbledon with Bob Hewitt in 1979 reaching the semi-finals and they made a last appearance together in the main draw at Flushing Meadows in 1980 reaching the quarterfinals with a nostalgic victory over fellow veteran Americans Clark Graebner and Charlie Pasarell.
McMillan played for many years on the seniors tours and was Runner-up at the inaugural Wimbledon over 35"s to John Newcombe in 1982 after good wins over Tony Roche, Mark Cox and Ismail El Shafei.
In 1988 he and Hewitt gave away 20 years between them to beat the Gullikson twins Tim and Tom in the 35"s doubles final at Wimbledon. The most notable aspect of his game was that he had both a two-handed backhand and forehand, which simultaneously increased his power while restricting his mobility. In the 1967 Wimbledon, the pair did not lose a set, and McMillan did not once lose a service game.
McMillan was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1992.
He works as a tennis commentator for Eurosport and on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 5 during Wimbledon. singles finals Runner-up (1) Men"s Doubles (5 wins) Mixed Doubles (5 wins, 6 losses).