Todd Martin - Playing Career

Playing Career

Martin played tennis for two years at Northwestern University before turning professional in 1990. His parents lived in Lansing, Michigan, where Martin went to nearby East Lansing High School. At Northwestern, he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He won his first top-level singles title in 1993 at Coral Springs, Florida. Martin traveled with good friend David Helfer for much of the '92 season. Helfer went on to play at Kalamazoo College.

Coached by Robert Van't Hof, 1994 proved to be a breakout year for Martin. At the year's first Grand Slam tournament, he reached the men's singles final at the Australian Open, where he lost in straight sets to world no. 1 Pete Sampras, 6-7, 4-6, 4-6. At Wimbledon, he made it to the semifinals, before falling to the eventual champion Sampras; the set that Martin took from Sampras in the match was the only set that Sampras lost during the entire tournament. Martin's third Grand Slam semifinal of 1994 came at the US Open, where he again fell to the eventual champion, this time Andre Agassi. He also captured singles titles at Queen's Club and the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis, the latter of which was the first back-to-back titles.

Martin was a member of the US team that won the Davis Cup in 1995 (beating Russia 3–2 in the final). He also reached the final of the 1995 Grand Slam Cup, where he lost in straight sets to Goran Ivanišević, 6-7, 3-6, 4-6. He reached the Wimbledon semifinals again in 1996, but eventually lost 10–8 in the fifth set against MaliVai Washington, after holding a 5–1 lead in the final set and serving for the match twice. Martin would later reflect on the outcome and admit that he choked during the crucial moments of the match. He missed most of the 1997 season due to injury, but came back strongly in 1998 when he won two singles titles in Barcelona and Stockholm.

In 1999, Martin had a solid year, reaching the quarterfinals of both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and reached his second Grand Slam final in 1999 at the US Open. Along the way, Martin had a memorable battle with Greg Rusedski in the fourth round, in which Rusedski held numerous advantages, including a two sets to love lead, serving for the match in the third set, and a 4–1 advantage in the fifth. Yet Martin was able to prevail, 5–7, 0–6, 7–6, 6–4, 6–4. Martin won 20 of the final 21 points of the match, despite playing with a heavily bandaged leg and dealing with dehydration (he needed intravenous fluids after the match). In the final, he faced Andre Agassi in a very high-quality five-set contest, which Agassi eventually won, 6–4, 6–7, 6–7, 6–3, 6–2. Martin also won another singles title in Sydney that year, and reached his career-high singles ranking of world no. 4.

In 2000, Martin again turned in a strong performance at the U.S. Open, reaching the semifinals before falling to the eventual champion, Marat Safin, in straight sets, 3-6, 6-7, 6-7. As with the previous year's tournament, Martin made another grueling comeback from a two-set deficit in the fourth round, this time against Carlos Moyà, 6–7, 6–7, 6–1, 7–6, 6–2.

Martin was named the ATP's Most Improved Player in 1993, and won its Sportsmanship Award in 1993 and 1994. He was President of ATP Players Council for 1995–97 and 1998–99.

From 1994 to 1996, Martin was coached by Robert Van't Hof. From 1997 to 2002, Martin was coached by Dean Goldfine.

During his career Martin won eight singles and five doubles titles, and earned prize money totaling US$8,254,455. He retired from the professional tour in 2004.