Playing career
Coached by Stefan Schaffelhuber, Steeb turned professional in 1986. He played left-handed. He won his first top-level singles title in 1989 in Gstaad. His best singles performances at Grand Slam events came in reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open in 1988, the US Open in 1991, and the French Open in 1992.
He represented West Germany at the 1988 Olympic Games, losing in the singles to eventual silver medalist Tim Mayotte of the United States in the quarter-final.
Steeb was a member of three German Davis Cup champion teams – in 1988, 1989 and 1993 (he played in the final in '88 and '89, and in the earlier rounds in '93). He laid the foundation for the German 4-1 victory in 1988 in Gothenburg, with an upset five-set win in the singles against then-world number one Mats Wilander of Sweden in the final. His performances in the 1989 event included a singles win in the semi-finals against Andre Agassi in Munich.
Over the course of his career, Steeb won three top-level singles titles and three tour doubles titles. His career-high rankings were World No. 14 in singles (in 1990), and World No. 41 in doubles (in 1989). His career prize money totalled $2,320,082. Steeb retired from the professional tour in 1996.
Post-playing career
In his post-playing career, he worked as Tournament Director of the Nord-LB Open in Braunschweig. He was also Tournament Director of the German Open in Hamburg prior to being succeeded by his former Davis Cuo winning teammate Michael Stich in 2009. Steeb served as the Vice President of Sports for the German Tennis Federation (DTB), having been elected to the position in November 2011. In 2014, he founded the Charley Steeb Tennis Academy.
Steeb has also worked as a co-commentator on tennis for Eurosport.
Germany
