Steve Denton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Steve Denton (born September 5, 1956, in Kingsville, Texas) is an American professional tennis player who played on the ATP Tour in the 1970s and 1980s.

Denton was ranked as high as World No. 12 on the ATP Rankings in singles and No. 5 in doubles. Both rankings came 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 138 mph that would stand for 13 years until it was broken in 1997 by Mark Philippoussis who recorded a 142 mph delivery. The current record of 154 mph is held by Andy Roddick.

He reached six singles finals, most notably the Australian Open (in 1981 and 1982) and the Cincinnati Masters (in 1982). He also won 18 doubles titles (including the U.S. Open and the Canada Masters in 1982, and reaching 23 additional doubles finals.

On August 8, 2006, Denton was named the head men's tennis coach at Texas A&M University.

[edit] Grand Slam singles finals

[edit] Runner-ups (2)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1981	Australian Open	Johan Kriek	2-6, 6-7, 7-6, 4-6
1982	Australian Open	Johan Kriek	3-6, 3-6, 2-6

[edit] Career highlights

Career Singles Finals (6):

1981--Australian Open;
1982--Australian Open, Cincinnati Masters, Metz;
1983--Richmond WCT;
1984--Richmond WCT

Career Doubles Titles (18):

1983--Houston-WCT, Las Vegas, Munich WCT, Philadelphia;
1982--Denver, Houston, Memphis, US Open, Frankfurt, Canada Masters;
1981--Indianapolis, Monterrey WCT, Stockholm, Vienna;
1980--Basel, Denver, Indianapolis, Barcelona

Career Doubles Finals (23):

1988--Tokyo Outdoor;
1987--Cincinnati Masters;
1985--Memphis, Atlanta;
1984--Brussels, Milan, Richmond WCT;
1983--Forest Hills WCT, London/Queen's Club, Tokyo Indoor, Australian Open, Dallas, Wembley;
1982--Masters Doubles WCT, Munich-2 WCT, Cincinnati Masters, Sydney Indoor;
1981--Brussels, London/Queen's Club;
1980--North Conway, Washington-2, Bologna;
1979--Hong Kong