Mike Estep

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.

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. 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. .

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.

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	Template:Flagicon Gene Scott	7–5, 3–6, 7–6, 3–6, 7–5
Win	2–0	Feb 1976	Khartoum, Sudan	Hard	Template:Flagicon Thomaz Koch	6–4, 6–7, 6–4, 6–3
Loss	2–1	1982	Tampa, U.S.	Hard	Template:Flagicon Brian Gottfried	7–6, 2–6, 4–6
Loss	2–2	1982	Newport, U.S.	Grass	Template:Flagicon 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)	Template:Flagicon William Brown	Template:Flagicon Jimmy Connors Template:Flagicon Juan Gisbert Sr.	default
Win	2.	1973	Salt Lake City, U.S.	Hard (i)	Template:Flagicon Raúl Ramírez	Template:Flagicon Jiří Hřebec Template:Flagicon Jan Kukal	6–4, 7–6
Win	3.	1973	Calgary, Canada	Indoor	Template:Flagicon Ilie Năstase	Template:Flagicon Szabolcs Baranyi Template:Flagicon Péter Szőke	6–7, 7–5, 6–3
Win	4.	1973	Valencia, Spain	Clay	Template:Flagicon Ion Țiriac	Template:Flagicon Patrick Hombergen Template:Flagicon Bernard Mignot	6–4, 1–6, 10–8
Loss	1.	1973	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Template:Flagicon Ion Țiriac	Template:Flagicon Juan Gisbert Sr. Template:Flagicon Manuel Orantes	4–6, 6–7
Win	5.	1973	Djakarta, Indonesia	Hard	Template:Flagicon Ian Fletcher	Template:Flagicon John Newcombe Template:Flagicon Allan Stone	7–5, 6–4
Win	6.	1974	Philadelphia WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Template:Flagicon Pat Cramer	Template:Flagicon Jean-Baptiste Chanfreau Template:Flagicon Georges Goven	6–1, 6–1
Loss	2.	1974	Hampton, U.S.	Carpet	Template:Flagicon Pat Cramer	Template:Flagicon Željko Franulović Template:Flagicon Nikola Pilić	6–4, 5–7, 1–6
Loss	3.	1974	Melbourne, Australia	Clay	Template:Flagicon Paul Kronk	Template:Flagicon Grover Raz Reid Template:Flagicon Allan Stone	6–7, 4–6
Loss	4.	1974	Manila, Philippines	Clay	Template:Flagicon Marcello Lara	Template:Flagicon Syd Ball Template:Flagicon Ross Case	3–6, 6–7, 7–9
Win	7.	1975	Washington Indoor WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Template:Flagicon Jeff Simpson	Template:Flagicon Anand Amritraj Template:Flagicon Vijay Amritraj	7–6, 6–3
Loss	5.	1975	Houston, U.S.	Clay	Template:Flagicon Jeff Simpson	Template:Flagicon Robert Lutz Template:Flagicon Stan Smith	5–7, 6–7
Loss	6.	1975	Boston, U.S.	Clay	Template:Flagicon John Andrews	Template:Flagicon Brian Gottfried Template:Flagicon Raúl Ramírez	6–4, 3–6, 6–7
Loss	7.	1976	Cologne, Germany	Carpet	Template:Flagicon Colin Dowdeswell	Template:Flagicon Bob Hewitt Template:Flagicon Frew McMillan	1–6, 6–3, 6–7
Loss	8.	1981	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Template:Flagicon Mark Edmondson	Template:Flagicon Peter McNamara Template:Flagicon Paul McNamee	6–2, 4–6, 6–7
Loss	9.	1981	Brisbane, Australia	Grass	Template:Flagicon Mark Edmondson	Template:Flagicon Rod Frawley Template:Flagicon 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.

External links

• Template:ATP
• Template:ITF
• Ultimate Tennis Statistics