Martin Blackman

Martin Blackman (born March 5, 1970) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He later represented Barbados.[1]

Martin Blackman
Country (sports) United States /
Barbados
ResidenceOrlando, Florida
Born (1970-04-05) April 5, 1970
Bronx, United States
Height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
PlaysRight-handed
Prize money$141,468
Singles
Career record3–14
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 158 (June 6, 1994)
Grand Slam Singles results
French Open1R (1994)
US Open1R (1990)
Doubles
Career record4–7
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 142 (September 19, 1994)
Grand Slam Doubles results
US Open1R (1994)

Early life

Blackman was born in New York City, before moving to Barbados when he was 2 years old. He spent much of his childhood in Barbados, where his father Courtney Blackman served as Governor of the Central Bank and he attended the Harrison College School. For two summers, Blackman's family lived on the Upper West Side in New York and he trained at the Port Washington Tennis Academy. In 1983 he returned to the United States and attended the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy on a tennis scholarship.[2]

Junior career

Blackman beat future Grand Slam winners Michael Chang and Petr Korda en route to the semi-finals of the 1986 US Open Juniors and was also a semi-finalist at the same event a year later, with MaliVai Washington in the doubles.[3] The biggest junior title that he won was the 1986 USTA National Championships (16s), in both the singles and doubles, partnering Chang.[3] He was also a member of two NCAA Division I Championship winning teams while at Stanford.[3]

Professional career

Blackman started on the Grand Prix tennis circuit in 1987 when, at the age of just 16, he appeared at Indianapolis and achieved a win over world number 74 Luiz Mattar.[3]

The right-handed Blackman made his first Grand Slam appearance in the 1990 US Open, where he lost a three set match to Martín Jaite in the first round.[3]

In 1994 he played in his two further Grand Slams, at the French Open and US Open.[3] At Roland Garros he was unable to better his previous effort and again exited in the opening round, this time to countryman Bryan Shelton in four sets.[3] At his home event he only entered the main draw of the doubles, with Ivan Baron.[3] The pair lost their only match to Canadians Daniel Nestor and Greg Rusedski.[3] Also in 1994, Blackman and partner Renzo Furlan reached the semi-finals of the Romanian Open.[3]

He appeared in 10 rubbers for the Barbados Davis Cup team during his career, winning his first five matches and losing his final five.[4]

Blackman achieved a career-high singles ranking of No. 158 and No. 142 in men's doubles, and eventually retired from the ATP Tour in 1995.

Coaching career

Blackman was head men’s tennis coach at The American University from 1998 to 2004, when he became Director of the Junior Tennis Champions Center at College Park, Md. He was Senior Director of Talent Identification and Development for the United States Tennis Association (USTA) from 2009 to 2011, serving on the Board of Directors from 2003–04 and 2005–06. He founded the Blackman Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, Florida in 2011.[5] In 2015, Blackman re-joined the USTA, succeeding Patrick McEnroe as General Manager of Player Development.[6]

Personal life

Blackman holds an Economics Degree from George Washington University. He lives in Boca Raton with his wife and their four children.

Challenger titles

Singles
No. Year Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final
1. 1993 Belo Horizonte, Brazil Hard David Adams 6–7, 6–4, 7–6

Doubles
No. Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents in the final Score in the final
1. 1992 Singapore Hard Laurence Tieleman Patrick Baur
Sander Groen		 6–4, 1–6, 7–6
2. 1994 Wellington, New Zealand Hard Kenny Thorne Sandon Stolle
Simon Youl		 6–7, 6–3, 6–3
3. 1994 Poznań, Poland Clay Sergio Cortes Joao Cunha-Silva
Emanuel Couto		 6–7, 7–5, 7–5

References
  1. ITF Tennis Profile
  2. Djata, Sundiata A. (2006). Blacks at the net: Black achievement in the history of tennis, Volume 1. Syracuse University Press.
  3. ATP World Tour Profile
  4. Davis Cup Profile
  5. "Martin Blackman - General Manager, Player Development". US Tennis Association. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
  6. "Blackman takes over as USTA GM of development". ESPN.com. Associated Press. April 6, 2015. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
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