Prior to Paris he had won the Italian Championships in early May, beating Defending Champion, Luis Ayala, in five sets.

[6][7] MacKay made eight appearances at the Cincinnati Open, amassing a 9-8 record in singles and reaching the round of 16 three times (1953, 1955 and 1957).

MacKay enjoyed a 17-year career as an amateur and a professional tennis player, winning 29 singles titles and 11 doubles.

From there, he enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1953 along with Mark Jaffe and Dick Potter to form a strong team under tennis coach Bill Murphy.

[11] In June 1957, MacKay won the Singles title at the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship, defeating Sammy Giammalva of Texas in five sets at Salt Lake City.

After winning the NCAA Singles Title in June 1957, MacKay played amateur tennis for three additional summers.

MacKay defeated defending champion, Luis Ayala, in the final of the Italian Championship in five sets(considered the 5th Major) and was seeded No.

In 1970, MacKay bought the controlling interest in the ATP Pacific Coast Championships in Berkeley, California, when he was ranked #9 in the U.S.

He convinced banker Byron Leydecker to sponsor the tournament and it became the Redwood Bank Pacific Coast Open.

In 1973, he started a company named BMK Sports, which operated his Major Tennis Event that became known as the SAP Open when he sold in 1995.

He was the first known as Mr. Wild Card for adding Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, and Bjorn Borg, and others to his tournament draw even though they did not qualify.

Over his 30-year broadcasting career, MacKay teamed with Arthur Ashe, Bud Collins, Donald Dell, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert, John McEnroe, Pam Shriver, Tracy Austin, Justin Gimelstob, and Leif Shiras.