Steve Denton (born September 5, 1956) is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player. He is currently the head men's tennis coach at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

. After becoming an

all-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

in 1978, Denton spent nine seasons playing for the ATP Tour. He reached the final of both the

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

and

1982 Australian Open The 1982 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 71st edition of the Australian Open and was held from Monday 29 November through Monday 13 ...

, and won the 1982 US Open doubles championship with

Kevin Curren Kevin Melvyn Curren (born 2 March 1958) is a South African former professional tennis player. He played in two Grand Slam singles finals and won four Grand Slam doubles titles, reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 5 in July 19 ...

, attaining career-high rankings of World No. 12 in singles and World No. 2 in doubles. He won a total of 18 tour level doubles titles and, despite reaching 6 finals, never won a singles title. In 1984, his serve broke the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

, which would not be broken until 13 years later. After retiring from the pros, he moved to

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi ( ; ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, Texas, Nueces County with portions extending into Aransas County, T ...

, coaching several local junior tennis teams. In 2001, he debuted his college coaching career at

Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi (Texas A&M–Corpus Christi, TAMU–CC, A&M–Corpus Christi, or A&M–CC) is a Public university, public research university on Ward Island (Texas), Ward Island in Corpus Christi, Texas, United States. It i ...

, where he led his teams to three conference championships and a first-ever

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

tournament appearance. In 2006, he resigned to become the head coach at Texas A&M University. For his accomplishments, he is a member of the ITA Hall of Fame, the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame, the Blue-Gray Tennis Class Hall of Fame, and the Longhorn Hall of Honor.

Playing career

High school and college

Denton attended Bishop High School in

Bishop, Texas Bishop is a city in Nueces County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,174 as of the 2020 census, up from 3,134 in the 2010 census. History Bishop is a small town in south Texas, it was a planned town from its beginning. In 1910, F.Z. ...

. As a prep, he won four consecutive UIL state 3A singles titles. He then attended the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

, where he played tennis from 1976 to 1979. He earned all-American honors in 1978. Along with teammate Kevin Curren, he won the U.S. Tennis Association amateur indoor and SWC doubles title in 1979. He completed his college career with an 85–22 singles record, which currently ranks third all-time in school history. He also compiled a 72–18 doubles record, and a 78–27 team record. For his collegiate and professional accomplishments, he was inducted into the Longhorn Hall of Honor in 2006.

Professional

Denton was ranked as high as World No. 12 on the ATP rankings in singles and No. 2 in doubles, both in 1983. Denton was known for his big serve and employed an unusual service motion which involved taking two steps forward prior to striking the ball. Current ATP rules prohibit such a motion (or any service motion involving a running or walking start). In 1984, Denton set a service record of that would stand for 13 years until it was broken in 1997 by

Mark Philippoussis Mark Anthony Philippoussis (born 7 November 1976) is an Australian tennis coach, commentator and former professional tennis player of Greek and Italian descent. Philippoussis' greatest achievements are winning two Davis Cup titles with Austra ...

who recorded a delivery. The current record of is held by

Sam Groth Samuel Groth (born 19 October 1987) is an Australian politician and a former professional tennis player. Sitting as a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Groth represents the Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division), Liberal Par ...

. He reached six singles finals, most notably the Australian Open (in 1981 and 1982) and the

Cincinnati Masters The Cincinnati Open (also known as the Cincinnati Masters) is an annual professional tennis event held in Cincinnati, United States. Due to previous sponsorship, it has also been known as: the Thriftway ATP Championships, the Great American I ...

(in 1982). He also won 18 doubles titles (including the US Open and the Canada Masters) in 1982, and reaching 23 additional doubles finals.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (2 runners-up)

Doubles (1 championship, 1 runner-up)

Mixed Doubles (3 runners-up)

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Singles

Career finals

Doubles (18 wins, 21 losses)

Singles: 6 (6 losses)

Coaching career

Denton made his first head coaching debut at Texas A&M–Corpus Christi in 2001. In his five seasons there, he led the Islanders to three

Southland Conference The Southland Conference (SLC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it participates in ...

regular-season championships, two tournament championships, and the team's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. He was named Southland Conference Coach of the Year twice, in 2004 and 2005. He finished with a 64–48 overall record. On August 8, 2006, Denton became the head men's tennis coach at

. After struggling for two years in Big 12 Conference play, Denton led the Aggies to a 5-1 conference record and 2nd-place finish in his third year, earning Big 12 Coach of the Year honors.

Coaching record

References

External links

Official Texas A&M coach bio
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Denton, Steve 1956 births Living people American male tennis players Tennis coaches from Texas Sportspeople from Kingsville, Texas Tennis players from Texas Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Islanders men's tennis coaches Texas A&M Aggies men's tennis coaches Texas Longhorns men's tennis players US Open (tennis) champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles 20th-century American sportsmen