Walter Martin
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| Bio | He was the oldest and the first son of William Melville Martin and Violet Florence Thomson. Tennis pioneer Judge Walter Martin enjoyed great success during a significant time in Canadian sports history. Walter Martin won his first provincial junior title in 1922 and by 1927 he had won the provincial open singles championship. In the same year he made it to the finals of the National Junior Championships where he lost to Ellsworth Vines in five sets. He played intercollegiate tennis from 1926-30, winning the team championship in both 1927 and 1928. Individually, he won both singles and doubles titles in 1928 and 1929 en route to a fifth-place ranking among Canadian players. Walter was ranked in the top 10 in Canadian tennis between 1927 and 1933, and was the number one ranked Canadian player in 1933 and 1935. Martin was one of the first elite tennis players in the province of Saskatchewan and the best player in the province at that time. Although he began playing on the courts of Saskatchewan, he did most of his playing at the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club. While playing at the national level, Walter also played intramural tennis, winning the singles championship in 1927 and 28, and was a member of the intermediate intercollegiate basketball team. A member of the men’s athletic directorate from 1929-30, Walter won the Canadian tennis championship and was on the national Davis Cup team four times from 1931 through to 1934, but only played in one time in 1934 against the USA. In Canadian Open play, Martin was a finalist in 1933 losing to American John Murio in a five-set 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. Playing with Gil Nunns he was twice a runner-up in men’s doubles (1930 and 1932) but finally took the title in 1937 playing with D.N.Jones Jr. They defeated Laird Watt and Bob Murray in four sets. The son of former Saskatchewan premier and chief justice of the appeal court, William Melville Martin, Walter himself was appointed to the bench as judge of the judicial district of York, Ontario, in 1967. He served as president of the International Lawn Tennis Club of Canada in the 1970s. Martin’s interest in tennis continued long after his competitive career ended. He was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in 1973. Walter passed away January 24, 1977, in Toronto. |
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