Hooper suffered from Osgood-Schlatter's disease as a child . He graduated from the University of Arkansas and was elected to the All-American selection in 1980 and 1981 . He also won the individual title of the Southwest Conference. In 1981 he was called up to the United States Tennis Association's Junior Davis Cup team and began his career in professional tennis . In 1982 he finished 30th in the tennis world rankings and was then awarded the ATP Newcomer of the Year Award . In the following years he played quite successfully in singles, but without being able to win a title on the ATP World Tour . In 1983 he was in the final of the Lorraine Open , where he lost to Nick Saviano ; In 1984 he lost in the final in Auckland against Danny Saltz . He was more successful in doubles, where he won five titles between 1982 and 1986. He reached his highest ranking in the tennis world rankings in 1982 with position 17 in singles and 1986 with position 18 in doubles.
His best individual result in a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the round of 16 of the French Open 1982, where he was clearly inferior to Jimmy Connors with 1: 6, 0: 6 and 4: 6. In the doubles competition he reached the quarter-finals of the US Open in the same year at the side of his compatriot Peter Rennert ; they were defeated by the eventual champions Kevin Curren and Steve Denton in five competitive sets. In mixed , Hooper reached the second round of the 1987 French Open with Marianne Werdel-Witmeyer and the quarter-finals of the 1982 Wimbledon Championships with Anne White .