Martin Blackman

Martin Blackman
Country (sports) United States United States /
Barbados Barbados
Residence Boca Raton
Born (1970-04-05) April 5, 1970
Bronx, United States
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Plays Right-handed
Prize money $141,468
Singles
Career record 3-14
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 158 (June 6, 1994)
Grand Slam Singles results
French Open 1R (1994)
US Open 1R (1990)
Doubles
Career record 4-7
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 142 (September 19, 1994)
Grand Slam Doubles results
US Open 1R (1994)

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

Early life

Blackman 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. In 1983 he returned to the United States and attended the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy.[2]

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]

He started on the Grand Prix tennis circuit in 1987 when, at the age of just 16, he appeared at Indianapolis and had 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]

Challenger titles

Singles: (1)

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

Doubles: (3)

No. Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents in the final Score in the final
1. 1992 Singapore Hard Italy Laurence Tieleman Germany Patrick Baur
Netherlands Sander Groen		 6–4, 1–6, 7–6
2. 1994 Wellington, New Zealand Hard United States Kenny Thorne Australia Sandon Stolle
Australia Simon Youl		 6–7, 6–3, 6–3
3. 1994 Poznań, Poland Clay Chile Sergio Cortes Portugal Joao Cunha-Silva
Portugal 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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ATP World Tour Profile
  4. ↑ Davis Cup Profile
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