Philip Bester (born October 6, 1988) is a Canadian former professional tennis player from North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
teacher at York House School in Vancouver, was the core of Philip's physical and tennis development till around the age of 16.
At age 13, still coached by his dad, Philip moved down to Florida to attend the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy.
He had a remarkable run for a natural serve-and-volleyer in becoming the first Canadian male junior to play in a Grand Slam final.
In 2006, Bester competed in Canada's tie versus Mexico, losing a singles dead rubber in straight sets to Bruno Echagaray.
In July he won his first Davis Cup match, in a live rubber over Jhonnatan Medina-Álvarez of Venezuela, as Canada prevailed to remain in the America Group 1 pool.
Competing in a total of 7 Futures and 3 Challenger events for the year, Bester reached a high rank of World No.
Bester went 1 and 1 in each of his next two events, but again failed at the challenger and ATP level, losing in the first round as a wildcard at Granby, Vancouver, and the Rogers Cup.
He finally reached the second round of a challenger event, Moncton, defeating Satoshi Iwabuchi before falling to Nicholas Monroe.
His best result was winning U.S.A. F11 at Harbour Island, Florida without dropping a set, where he beat unseeded Barbadian Haydn Lewis in the final, 6–2, 7–6.
In early April, Bester and partner, compatriot Milos Raonic, won U.S.A. F7, defeating Lester Cook and Treat Conrad Huey in the final.
After losing in the final qualifying round at both U.S.A. F12 and F13 in singles, Bester reached the quarter-finals of U.S.A. F14, picking up 3 ATP ranking points in the process.
As a wild card entrant, Bester reached the quarter-finals of his hometown Odlum Brown Vancouver Open.
The week before the U.S. Open, Bester reached the qualifying round of the 2009 Pilot Pen Tennis tournament, an ATP 250 series event, defeating No.
The week after the Open, Bester reached the second round of the USTA Challenger of Oklahoma, defeating in-form compatriot Milos Raonic 7–6(11), 5–7, 7–6(2) before falling to No.
Bester lost in the first round of qualifying at the Natomas Men's Professional Tennis Tournament, to Tigran Martirosyan 7–6, 3–6, 5–7.
The following week he lost in the second round of qualifying for the inaugural Royal Bank of Scotland Challenger, played in Tiburon, California, to No.
2 seed Michael McClune in straight sets and young French talent Jonathan Eysseric 6–2, 6–2 before succumbing to No.
In April Bester qualified for the main singles draw of the 2010 Baton Rouge Pro Tennis Classic, where he lost in the first round to Joshua Goodall 6–2, 4–6, 5–7.
The following week Bester failed to qualify for the 2010 LA Tennis Open USTA Men's Challenger, losing in the first round as the No.
After a week off, Bester began a stint in Europe by reaching the semi-finals in singles at ITF Spain F32, in Oviedo on hard courts, as the No.
After two weeks off from tour action, Bester again lost in Monroe in singles, this time in the qualifying round of the 2010 Calabasas Pro Tennis Championships and in three sets.
A week later, Bester won his second career Challenger title in doubles, partnering Peter Polansky to victory at the 2011 McDonald's Burnie International.
In late February – early March, Bester began a three-week stint in the Quebec by reaching the semi-finals of Canada F1 on indoor hardcourts in Montreal, as the No.
In Houston, at the ATP 250 2011 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, unseeded, he lost in the second round of qualifying to Tim Smyczek, despite winning the first set.
The following week in Tallahassee, on hard courts, unseeded, Bester took out James Ward before succumbing easily to an in-form Wayne Odesnik 2–6, 1–6.
In doubles, he and partner Frank Dancevic eliminated Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione, the top seeds, before losing in round two.
After a month off tour play, Bester returned to action by taking a wild card for U.S.A. F13 Futures event, held in Sacramento, and reached the quarter-finals as the top seed.
Bester continued his climb up the singles rankings by reaching the second round of the 2011 Nielsen Pro Tennis Championships, the fifth time he has done so in six Challenger events played this year.
2 Frank Dancevic, seeing his first Davis Cup action since 2006, Bester capped off a love-two match deficit to see Canada advance to the World Group play-off round.