The Open Era
United States · born Hinsdale, Illinois, 1970 · right-handed · Queen's champion in 1994 and twice a Wimbledon semi-finalist
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7-6, 7-6
The 1994 Queen's final against the world No. 1, Pete Sampras
2
Wimbledon singles semi-finals, 1994 and 1996
5-1
His lead in the fifth set of the 1996 Wimbledon semi-final, which he lost 10-8
4
Career-high ranking, September 1999
8
ATP singles titles, with 5 in doubles
Todd Martin was born in Hinsdale, Illinois, in 1970 and trained in his home town of Lansing, Michigan, under Rick Ferman. Basketball was his first sport. He played two years of college tennis at Northwestern before turning professional, and in 1993 he was the ATP's Most Improved Player.
At 6 ft 6 in he served and volleyed, and grass suited him. He won Queen's in 1994, reached the Australian Open final that year and the US Open final in 1999, losing to Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, and rose to No. 4 in September 1999. He won eight singles and five doubles titles, played Davis Cup for the United States from 1994 to 2002 and won the doubles with Sampras in the 1995 final in Moscow. He was president of the ATP Player Council in the 1990s.
He retired in 2004, coached Novak Djokovic in 2009 and 2010, and in 2014 became chief executive of the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, a post he held until the end of 2022.
| Queen's 1994 | Seeded fifth, he beat Pete Sampras 7-6, 7-6 in the final, both tiebreaks 7-4, with 15 aces to Sampras's 14 |
|---|---|
| Queen's 1995 doubles | Won with Sampras, beating Jan Apell and Jonas Björkman 7-6, 6-4 |
| Wimbledon 1994 | Quarter-final: beat Wayne Ferreira 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5. Semi-final: lost to Sampras 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 |
| Wimbledon 1996 | Semi-final: lost to MaliVai Washington 5-7, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, 10-8, after leading 5-1 in the fifth set |
| Wimbledon 1993 | Quarter-final, lost to Jim Courier |
| Queen's Club | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Men's singles | |
| 1995 | Men's doubles | with Pete Sampras |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"He's still the man to beat at Wimbledon."
The person behind the player.
Lansing, Michigan
Basketball was his first love, but he left it for tennis because he preferred skill and finesse to the physical contact near the basket. "My competitive game was always on grass courts," he said later.
Source: Sports History WeeklyThe 1990s
He played in the same American generation as Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Michael Chang, and once joked that he was "the fifth Beatle".
Source: Tennis.comWimbledon, July 1996
He led 5-1 in the fifth set of the semi-final and lost it 10-8; he admitted afterwards that he had frozen. Of Washington's place in the final he said: "It's got to be a great feeling for Mal to be in the finals of Wimbledon, whether he's black, white, brown or green."
Source: The Spokesman-ReviewBoston, 1999
In a Davis Cup tie in heat above 100 degrees he began to suffer heat stroke, and the rules barred a replacement, so a doctor gave him intravenous fluid before he played his friend Patrick Rafter. He won the first two sets and lost the next three.
Source: Sports History WeeklyLansing, 1994
At Ferman's urging he founded the Todd Martin Youth Leadership programme, which offers tennis and education to children in mid-Michigan. "Give back to a community and sport that had given me so much," he said of its aim.
Source: Tennis.comNewport, 2014
He moved his family from Jacksonville, Florida, to Newport to run the International Tennis Hall of Fame, leaving his tennis academy behind. Under him the Hall introduced a fan vote on inductees.
Source: Sports Illustrated (AP)Free membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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