The Growing Pains of Growing up in Tennis

An interview with Martin Damm Jr., who went from Wimbledon daycare to the Wimbledon main draw.

WIMBLEDON, England — Carlos Alcaraz, the two-time Wimbledon champion whose wrist injury has kept him off tour for three months and counting, has only lost to three opponents in his history at the All England Club.

Twice, he lost to Jannik Sinner, including in last year’s final. In 2021, he lost to Daniil Medvedev, who would go on to win the U.S. Open a few months after that.

The third opponent to beat Alcaraz here is the one you’ve almost certainly seen the least of. But if Martin Damm Jr. continues on his trajectory, he’s going to become a much more familiar name to tennis fans around the world, and particularly his native United States.

Martin Damm Jr. at Wimbledon (Photo by Ben Rothenberg for Bounces)

Damm’s win against Alcaraz, of course, came in the juniors: as a 15-year-old, he beat 16-year-old Alcaraz 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon boys’ singles event in 2019 before losing to eventual champion Shintaro Mochizuki in a roller coaster semifinal.

Damm, now 22, is five months younger than Alcaraz, and has seen his one-time peer’s career soar in the intervening years.

“I remember it very well, and I’m happy about beating such a player, but of course it’s already been seven years, so it’s history,” Damm said in Czech at Wimbledon on Monday. “And of course, Alcaraz has been one of the best players in the world since that time, so for me it’s a big motivation to work so that I can play with him at some big tournament. I’m glad that I beat him, but as I say, it’s history: we were young; he was only 16 years old. So the memories are good, but now it’s a new world.”

Damm is only just approaching this world of tour-level tennis; he’s on the cusp of breaking into the ATP Top 100 for the first time, and could cement that breakthrough with a win at Wimbledon on Wednesday against 25th seeded Arthur Rinderknech.

It’s been a long road that dates back for most of Damm’s 22 years. Not only was he in the Wimbledon juniors, he was once in the Wimbledon day care, spending days there as his father, the Czech player Martin Damm Sr., competed at the tournament. Damm Sr., who reached No. 42 in singles, was at his best in doubles, winning the 2006 U.S. Open as one of his 40 ATP doubles titles.

In an interview with Bounces after his first round win over Marco Trungelliti—in which he hit 28 aces—Damm Jr. discussed his journey from the day care to the main draw, egos in tennis, and the maturation he could only find when he was forced to step away from the tour.

“When I grew up I was around Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray. Which, at 6 years old, that’s not normal, to be doing that and to be at these events with my father. So that wasn’t normal, but that’s all I knew, that’s how I was raised.” —Martin Damm Jr. on his childhood in tennis.

This is my favorite interview that I’ve done so far at Wimbledon this year, and I think you’ll enjoy it. There’s a lot to digest in here from a young person who has already spent a lifetime in tennis, processing the effects the sport has had on him as a person.

“Egos are pretty high, and you’re self-centered and everything kind of revolves around the player. So you feel like that’s kind of normal. But when you go into normal life, then it’s the complete opposite: no one really cares about you in that sense.” —Martin Damm Jr.

To read the full interview, please subscribe to Bounces! -Ben