Marty Davis, UCSB’s Director of Tennis and head men’s coach, will be inducted into the USTA Northern California Tennis Hall of Fame in a July 29 ceremony at the Taube Family Tennis Center at Stanford University.
Davis, a six-time Big West Coach of the Year who has steered the Gauchos to six Big West championships and six NCAA Tournament appearances in his 11 seasons, is a native of San Jose.
“I’m so honored. It’s almost laughable that I would go on a list with players like Don Budge, Tom Brown, Sandy Mayer and Barry MacKay; or legendary coaches Jan Brogan, Tom Chivington, Tom Stow and Dick Gould,” Davis said. “It is one heck of an honor and I am certainly proud of my Nor Cal roots. I hope I can give back to the tennis community in a way that’s befitting a Hall of Famer.”
For Davis, entering a Hall of Fame is nothing new. A three-year All-American at Cal, he entered the Golden Bears’ Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in October of 2005. During his collegiate career Davis helped Cal to the NCAA National Indoor title, to the NCAA championship match in 1980 and four top-10 finishes.
After earning his degree in economics, Davis joined the professional tour. In all, he played in 37 Grand Slam tournaments, twice advancing to the doubles quarterfinals at the Australian Open, twice to the doubles quarterfinals at Wimbledon and once to the French Open doubles quarterfinals. He won three ATP singles titles and four ATP doubles championships. In 1988 and 1989, Davis and his partner Brad Drewett earned a world ranking of No. 7.
In 1985, Davis was chosen to serve on the ATP Players Council and in 1988 he was elected to the Men’s Professional Tennis Council, the governing body of professional tennis at the time. In 1989, he played an active role in dissolving of the MPTC and the start of the ATP Tour. Davis held a number of positions with the ATP including Director of Player Services, manager of the ATP Tour Headquarters Tennis Facility and Director of Licensing. He also provided color commentary for ESPN, USA and Prime Network tennis broadcasts.
Following his time with the ATP, Davis became an assistant coach at Cal and ultimately accepted the head coaching position at UCSB.
