Mike Estep

Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Hurst, Texas, USA
Born	(1949-07-19) July 19, 1949 Dallas, Texas, USA
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Turned pro	1969 (amateur from 1966)
Retired	1983
Plays	Right-handed
Singles
Career record	117–179
Career titles	2
Highest ranking	No. 59 (August 23, 1973)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	3R (1982)
French Open	2R (1973, 1975)
Wimbledon	4R (1975)
US Open	2R (1975)
Doubles
Career record	182–168 (Open era)
Career titles	7 (Open era)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	QF (1980, 1982)

Mike Estep (born July 19, 1949) is a former professional tennis player from the United States.

During his career Estep won 2 singles titles and 7 doubles titles. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 59 in August 1973.

In 1983 until 1986 he coached Martina Navratilova. Later he worked with Carling Bassett, Hana Mandlíková, Jana Novotná and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario.

He was a board member of the Association of Tennis Professionals from 1982 to 1989, holding the position of chairman of the ATP ranking Committee at the same time. He also worked with the U.S. Tennis Association, creating a method for ranking juniors in 1999 that is now used nationwide, and serving on the junior development council for Texas from 1993 to 1995.^[1]

Estep resides in Hurst, Texas.

Early life

Estep grew up in Dallas, where he graduated from the St. Mark's School of Texas. As a junior tennis player, Estep held a No 1 national ranking for five straight years (from 1963 to 1967). Estep was named the Texas High School Player of the Year, and led the U.S. to the Sunshine Cup Title and played on the U.S. Junior Davis Cup Team.^[2] When Estep and George Taylor won the USTA national junior doubles tournament, they became the first team of Texans to win a national tennis championship. .^[3]

College tennis

At Rice University, Estep was an All American tennis player for three years. As a senior in 1970, he won the Southwest Conference titles in both singles and doubles. At the NCAA Division 1 annual tournament, Estep was an NCAA doubles semifinalist (1968), a singles finalist (1969), and a singles semifinalist (1970). He graduated from Rice with a degree in political science.^[4]

Grand Prix and WCT finals

Singles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Aug 1973	Merion, U.S.	Grass	Gene Scott	7–5, 3–6, 7–6, 3–6, 7–5
Win	2–0	Feb 1976	Khartoum, Sudan	Hard	Thomaz Koch	6–4, 6–7, 6–4, 6–3
Loss	2–1	1982	Tampa, U.S.	Hard	Brian Gottfried	7–6, 2–6, 4–6
Loss	2–2	1982	Newport, U.S.	Grass	Hank Pfister	1–6, 5–7

Doubles: 16 (7 titles, 9 runner-ups)

Result	No.	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	1973	Omaha, U.S.	Hard (i)	William Brown	Jimmy Connors Juan Gisbert Sr.	default
Win	2.	1973	Salt Lake City, U.S.	Hard (i)	Raúl Ramírez	Jiří Hřebec Jan Kukal	6–4, 7–6
Win	3.	1973	Calgary, Canada	Indoor	Ilie Năstase	Szabolcs Baranyi Péter Szőke	6–7, 7–5, 6–3
Win	4.	1973	Valencia, Spain	Clay	Ion Țiriac	Patrick Hombergen Bernard Mignot	6–4, 1–6, 10–8
Loss	1.	1973	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Ion Țiriac	Juan Gisbert Sr. Manuel Orantes	4–6, 6–7
Win	5.	1973	Djakarta, Indonesia	Hard	Ian Fletcher	John Newcombe Allan Stone	7–5, 6–4
Win	6.	1974	Philadelphia WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Pat Cramer	Jean-Baptiste Chanfreau Georges Goven	6–1, 6–1
Loss	2.	1974	Hampton, U.S.	Carpet	Pat Cramer	Željko Franulović Nikola Pilić	6–4, 5–7, 1–6
Loss	3.	1974	Melbourne, Australia	Grass	Paul Kronk	Grover Raz Reid Allan Stone	6–7, 4–6
Loss	4.	1974	Manila, Philippines	Hard	Marcello Lara	Syd Ball Ross Case	3–6, 6–7, 7–9
Win	7.	1975	Washington Indoor WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Jeff Simpson	Anand Amritraj Vijay Amritraj	7–6, 6–3
Loss	5.	1975	Houston, U.S.	Clay	Jeff Simpson	Robert Lutz Stan Smith	5–7, 6–7
Loss	6.	1975	Boston, U.S.	Clay	John Andrews	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	6–4, 3–6, 6–7
Loss	7.	1976	Cologne, Germany	Carpet	Colin Dowdeswell	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	1–6, 6–3, 6–7
Loss	8.	1981	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Mark Edmondson	Peter McNamara Paul McNamee	6–2, 4–6, 6–7
Loss	9.	1981	Brisbane, Australia	Grass	Mark Edmondson	Rod Frawley Chris Lewis	5–7, 6–4, 6–7

Coaching

Estep entered coaching after retiring from competitive tennis in 1983.

He is best known for coaching Martina Navratilova during her rise to dominance.^[5]

References

External links

• Mike Estep at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Mike Estep at the International Tennis Federation
• Ultimate Tennis Statistics