From San Jose to the world stage and back to NorCal; Marty Davis started playing tennis with his parents at Cabrillo Junior College at the age of 12. It went a step further when the family joined the Almaden Swim and Racquet Club, “I jumped right into it!” says Marty. Tony Trabert Tennis Camp fueled the addiction even more and he earned the No. 1 ranking in NorCal Boys 18’s in his first year in the age group.
At UC Berkeley, Marty earned All American his freshman through junior year, “I wanted to go to Cal for the academics,” he says. But the court is where he excelled; on a team along with the likes of Larry Stefanki and Michael Bauer, Marty played #2 singles and #1 doubles with Chris Dunk, leading the team to four top 10 finishes, the NCAA National Indoor Title in 1980, and the NCAA Championship match in 1980 against Stanford.
After earning an economics degree Marty decided to give the pro tour a try, “I saved money working in restaurants so I thought I’d travel on the tour until the money ran it, but it never ran out. It was an unbelievably fun job to have,” he says. Between 1980 and 1991 Marty won three ATP singles titles in Hawaii, Bristol and Melbourne, and four ATP doubles titles in Mexico City (Chris Dunk), Brisbane and Los Angeles (Tim Fosset) and Auckland (Brad Drewett). With Drewett, Marty earned a world ranking of No. 7 in 1988 and 1989.
Marty participated in 37 Grand Slam tournaments, and played on centre court in every one. He reached doubles semi-finals at the Australian Open twice with Brad Drewett, the doubles quarter-finals at Wimbledon two times, once with Chris Dunk, the other with Brad Drewett, and the doubles quarter-finals at the French Open with Chris Dunk. He finished top 50 in prize earnings five times and stayed in world top 100 rankings for seven years.
In 1985 Marty was selected by his peers to serve on the ATP Players Council, and in 1988 he was elected to the MPTC (Men's Professional Tennis Council), the governing body of professional tennis at the time. Along with Larry Scott, Marty played an active part in the 1989 dissolving of the MPTC and the start of the ATP Tour. “I'm very proud of my involvement with the formation of the ATP Tour,” Marty says. He held several positions with the ATP, including Director of Player Services, manager of the ATP Tour Headquarters Tennis Facility and Director of Licensing. He also provided commentary for ESPN, USA and Prime Network tennis broadcasts.
After his time with the ATP Marty became the assistant tennis coach at UC Berkeley, “I wanted to get back to California,” says Marty. He is currently the Men's Tennis Coach at UC Santa Barbara where he’s been awarded Big West Coach of the Year honors six times and led the team to six Big West Conference titles and four NCAA tournaments.
His long-time doubles partner Chris Dunk, with whom he was inducted into Cal’s Athletics Hall of Fame with in 2005, says of Marty, “In the 10 years we played together I can not recall one instance where Marty ever gave less than 100%. His nickname is "Mad Dog". Does that tell you something?”
An avid surfer, Marty along with his wife Jill and two children, Taylor and Kyle, enjoy their life in Santa Barbara, but their hearts belong to Northern California, “I’ve always taken a lot of pride in being from NorCal. A lot of guys on the tour were from NorCal and I was very honored and proud to be part of that group.”