# Lester Cook

Lester Cook (born April 24, 1984) is an American former professional tennis player.
As a junior, he was top 5 in the country in the 18 and under division, finishing 4th place at the prestigious Kalamazoo Hard Court Nationals and 3rd in the International Grass Court and International Hard Court championships that same year. At 16, he competed in the French Open, U.S. Open, Australian Open, and the Orange Bowl, proudly earning 6 National Sportsmanship awards along the way.
A year later Lester entered college at 17, pursuing a degree in Economics at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX. In his 3 years at Texas A&M under the tutelage of Tim Cass, Lester was a 3 time All-American finishing with a career high ITA ranking of No. 6 in singles and No. 1 in doubles with partner Ante Matijevic. After his junior year, Lester was one of six players asked to represent the U.S. Collegiate All-star Team in a scrimmage match against the Chinese National team.
In 2005, Lester left college and turned pro. In his 6 years on tour, Lester had the privilege of traveling to over 30 countries and 31 states following his dream of being the best tennis player in the world. Along the way he won 8 professional singles titles as well as 18 professional doubles titles reaching a career high ranking of No. 191 in singles and No. 175 in doubles. He competed in all 4 grand slams as a professional and also participated in 3 World Team Tennis seasons, being drafted by the Delaware Smash and Newport Beach Breakers twice.
He won the men's singles in the Ojai Tennis Tournament in 2007, 2009, and 2010.
At the end of 2011, Lester retired from the tour and was focused on building a career in real estate. In 2014 he married his girlfriend of five years, Katie. They have two children and live in Ojai, CA with their many rescue animals including horses, goats, dogs, and a hamster. Lester currently works in real estate in both Los Angeles and Ventura County.

## Coaching career

- Teaching pro at Malibu Racquet Club starting September 2013
- USTA high performance coach for Jr Davis Cup Team Feb 2014
- Hitting Partner for Sloane Stephens July–December 2014
After retiring from professional tennis, Cook because a real estates agent in Ojai, starting his own (self-named) agency.

## ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
### Singles: 10 (7–3)

* Legend
* ATP Challenger (0–1)
* ITF Futures (7–2)
* Finals by surface
* Hard (6–2)
* Clay (0–1)
* Grass (0–0)
* Carpet (1–0)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Win | 1–0 | Jun 2006 | Thailand F1, Bangkok | Futures | Hard | Hyung-Kwon Kim] | 6–3, 6–1 |
| Win | 2–0 | Sep 2006 | Mexico F14, Monterrey | Futures | Hard | Miguel Gallardo-Valles | 7–6$^{(7–3)}$, 4–6, 7–6$^{(7–2)}$ |
| Loss | 2–1 | Feb 2007 | Costa Rica F1, San José | Futures | Hard | Peter Polansky | 6–2, 5–7, 3–6 |
| Win | 3–1 | Jun 2007 | Japan F6, Kusatsu | Futures | Carpet | Takahiro Terachi | 6–3, 2–6, 6–4 |
| Win | 4–1 | Oct 2007 | USA F25, Laguna Niguel | Futures | Hard | Nikita Kryvonos | 6–2, 6–3 |
| Win | 5–1 | Nov 2007 | USA F28, Waikolu | Futures | Hard | Carsten Ball | 5–7, 7–6$^{(7–2)}$, 6–3 |
| Win | 6–1 | Oct 2008 | USA F25, Laguna Niguel | Futures | Hard | Martin Pedersen | 6–2, 6–2 |
| Win | 7–1 | Mar 2009 | USA F6, McAllen | Futures | Hard | Andrey Kumantsov | 1–6, 6–2, 4–0 ret. |
| Loss | 7–2 | Sep 2010 | Tulsa, United States | Challenger | Hard | Bobby Reynolds | 3–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 7–3 | May 2011 | USA F12, Tampa | Futures | Clay | Blake Strode | 3–6, 4–6 |

### Doubles: 19 (13–6)

* Legend
* ATP Challenger (2–2)
* ITF Futures (11–4)
* Finals by surface
* Hard (11–5)
* Clay (1–1)
* Grass (0–0)
* Carpet (1–0)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Win | 1–0 | Dec 2002 | USA F30, Laguna Niguel | Futures | Hard | Jason Cook | Brandon Hawk Huntley Montgomery | 6–2, 6–4 |
| Win | 2–0 | Jun 2003 | USA F14, Sunnyvale | Futures | Hard | Ryan Newport | Brian Wilson Nick Rainey | 2–6, 6–3, 6–1 |
| Win | 3–0 | Jul 2004 | USA F16, Chico | Futures | Hard | Jason Cook | Sam Warburg KC Corkery | 7–5, 7–6$^{(7–5)}$ |
| Win | 4–0 | Feb 2005 | USA F4, Brownsville | Futures | Hard | Rob Steckley | Tres Davis Eric Nunez | walkover |
| Loss | 4–1 | Oct 2005 | USA F25, Laguna Niguel | Futures | Hard | Rob Steckley | Philip Gubenco Erik Chvojka | 6–7$^{(4–7)}$, 6–4, 1–6 |
| Loss | 4–2 | Jun 2006 | Thailand F1, Bangkok | Futures | Hard | Rob Steckley | Rubén Torres Izak Van Der Merwe | 4–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 4–3 | Aug 2006 | Mexico F13, Monterrey | Futures | Clay | Shane La Porte | Miguel Gallardo-Valles Carlos Palencia | 3–6, 4–6 |
| Win | 5–3 | Sep 2006 | Mexico F14, Monterrey | Futures | Hard | Shane La Porte | Jorge Aguilar Daniel Garza | 6–3, 6–4 |
| Win | 6–3 | Jun 2007 | Guatemala F1, Guatemala City | Futures | Hard | Shane La Porte | Miguel Gallardo-Valles Carlos Palencia | 6–3, 7–5 |
| Win | 7–3 | Jun 2007 | Japan F6, Kusatsu | Futures | Carpet | Shane La Porte | Hiroyasu Sato Joji Miyao | 4–6, 6–4, 7–6$^{(7–1)}$ |
| Win | 8–3 | Nov 2007 | USA F28, Waikolu | Futures | Hard | Shane La Porte | Carsten Ball Rylan Rizza | 6–2, 6–3 |
| Loss | 8–4 | Apr 2008 | Humacao, Puerto Rico | Challenger | Hard | Kevin Kim | Bobby Reynolds Rajeev Ram | 3–6, 4–6 |
| Win | 9–4 | May 2008 | Bradenton, United States | Challenger | Clay | Carsten Ball | Ryler Deheart Todd Widom | 4–6, 6–3, [10–6] |
| Loss | 9–5 | Feb 2009 | Carson, United States | Challenger | Hard | Donald Young | Scott Lipsky David Martin | 6–7$^{(3–7)}$, 6–4, [6–10] |
| Win | 10–5 | Feb 2009 | USA F4, Brownsville | Futures | Hard | Shane La Porte | Tigran Martirosyan Jesse Witten | 6–1, 7–5 |
| Loss | 10–6 | Apr 2009 | USA F7, Mobile | Futures | Hard | Treat Huey | Milos Raonic Philip Bester | 3–6, 6–1, [5–10] |
| Win | 11–6 | Jun 2009 | USA F13, Sacramento | Futures | Hard | Treat Huey | Andrew Coelho Adam Feeney | 6–4, 3–6, [10–2] |
| Win | 12–6 | Oct 2009 | Sacramento, United States | Challenger | Hard | David Martin | Santiago Gonzalez Travis Rettenmaier | 4–6, 6–3, [10–5] |
| Win | 13–6 | Apr 2010 | USA F9, Little Rock | Futures | Hard | Brett Joelson | Brydan Klein John Millman | 6–4, 3–6, [10–7] |

## Performance timeline

Key :
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |

### Singles

| Tournament | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | SR | W–L | Win % |
| Grand Slam tournaments |||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | A | Q1 | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | – |
| French Open | A | A | A | Q1 | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | – |
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | Q1 | Q1 | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | – |
| US Open | Q1 | A | Q1 | Q1 | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | – |
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | – |
| ATP Tour Masters 1000 |||||||||
| Indian Wells Masters | A | A | Q1 | Q2 | Q1 | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | – |
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | – |