Who is Martin Damm Jr as son of legendary ATP doubles star notches maiden tour win at Miami Open

Martin Damm Jr. burst onto the scene during last night's action at the Miami Open. But who is the 20-year-old who was technically born into the sport due to his legendary father being a former doubles star. Big shoes to fill, but Damm made the most of his chance.

Damm Jr is the son of the 2006 US Open men's doubles champion of the same name. He turned pro in 2020 and has attempted to qualify for multiple tournaments to no avail. In particular the Miami Masters in 2022, the 2023 Shanghai Masters and the US Open in 2022 and 2023. But he failed to qualify in all of them.

But he faced Zhizhen Zhang in the opening round in a 7-6, 7-6 win over the Chinese trailblazer and after being handed a wildcard by the Miami Open tournament organisers, he made the most of his chance. He broke at 5-4 down with Zhang looking to claim the opening set and stayed resilient. He won through the tie-break from there. A break apiece saw the second set also go the distance. He will now face Tommy Paul for a place in the Last 32 of the Masters 1000 tournament. From a player who could barely qualify tournaments to potentially the latter stages of a Masters 1000 tournament.

The 20-year-old has won five titles on the ITF World Tennis Tour and reached 10 finals. He has failed to prove himself even on the Challenger Tour though which does make this even more surprising. But it is very much a showcase that even those at a lower level can make a splash when given the opportunity.

His father won 40 titles out of 64 titles on the ATP Tour. He won three major titles at the US Open twice and Australian Open once and peaked at World Number 7 before giving up in 2011. Given that the attention was mostly on Darwin Blanch during last night's session with the 16-year-old who lost to Tomas Machac 6-4, 6-2 training with Carlos Alcaraz and being seen as the next prospect, it was Damm Jr that burst through to seal his spot in the second round.