Philip Bester - As A Junior

As A Junior

Bester was coached by his dad Alek Bester from age 5 when he started. Alek, a long time P.E. teacher at York House School in Vancouver, was the core of Philip's physical and tennis development till around the age of 16. Rufus Nel a high performance coach from South Africa was also a big part of Philip's early development, contributing his tennis knowledge and expertise on the game of tennis. At age 13, still coached by his dad, Philip moved down to Florida to attend the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy. There he spent 4 years, before teaming up with Jon Sorbo for the 2006 year. He was a member of the 2005 Canadian Davis Cup team as a 17 year old. He was also voted British Columbia's junior male athlete for 2005 and reached a career-high No. 8 on the International Tennis Federation Junior Boys rankings on January 2, 2006.

Bester's best junior result was in the Boys' Singles section of the 2006 French Open. 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. (Later that year at the U.S. Open, Peter Polansky duplicated the feat.) Bester lost his final to Martin Kližan, 3-6, 1-6.