Davis graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in economics and a bachelor's degree . In 1980 he became a professional tennis player and the following year he won his first of four doubles tournaments on the ATP World Tour alongside Chris Dunk , with whom he had already played during university days. In 1983 he won his first of four individual tournament wins. He reached his highest scores in the world rankings in 1985 with position 47 in singles and in 1988 with position 29 in doubles.
His best individual result in a Grand Slam tournament he achieved by reaching the third round at the Australian Open , Wimbledon and the US Open . In the doubles competition he reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in 1988 and 1989 on the side of Brad Drewett .
Davis is married with two children. In 1985 he was elected to the Players Council and two years later to the Board of Directors of ATP . In 1991 he retired from professional sports and worked intermittently as a commentator for ESPN and as an assistant coach at the University of California at Berkeley . Since then, he has been the head coach at the University of California at Santa Barbara and has been named Coach of the Year at the Big West Conference several times .