Jack Graham inducted into Canadian Tennis Hall of Fame

International Tennis Federation Board member Jack Graham, Q.C. has been officially inducted into the Canadian Tennis Hall of Fame in recognition of his significant contribution to the success of Canadian tennis.

Graham, who has been a member of the ITF Board of Directors since 2009, has been and continues to be a great builder of Canadian tennis. He has helped develop Canadian tennis at the local, national and international level for more than 40 years.

Graham was President of the Nova Scotia Tennis Association from 1995 to 2001 before being elected on Tennis Canada’s Board of Directors from 2001 to 2019. He was Chair of the Board from 2004 to 2006 and helped lay the foundation for Canada to become a leading tennis nation. During his mandate, Tennis Canada made the decision to significantly invest in athlete development, which included opening the organization’s first National Tennis Centre in Montreal.

He was also instrumental in bringing the Davis Cup to Nova Scotia, advocating for municipalities to support year-round tennis play and helping build a strong tennis pathway for the country to grow the game.

Graham continues to proudly represent Canada on the global tennis stage. In 2009, he became the first Canadian elected to the International Tennis Federation Board of Directors. Last September, he was re-elected for a fifth term, becoming the longest serving Director on the ITF Board. He has led all of the major governance enhancements at the ITF over the past decade.

Finally, as Chair of the new Atlantic Tennis Centre, Graham successfully secured public funding from all three levels of government and from donors, resulting in the creation of an 18-court Regional Training and Community Tennis Centre in Halifax. The opening of the ATC is scheduled for later this year.

“This is a great honour for me. I have always believed that tennis has the power to change lives,” said Graham. “I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have worked with so many people across Canada who “dreamed big dreams” about Canadian tennis and worked hard to make them a reality.”

Graham received Queen’s Counsel designation in 2008 and is a Senior Partner at McInnes Cooper, the largest law partnership in Atlantic Canada. He first studied at Acadia University, where he played on the tennis team, before gaining his LLB from Dalhousie University.

“In this challenging time for society, it is most welcome news to recognize the outstanding contributions to Canadian Tennis of Jack Graham,” said Robert Bettauer, Chair of the Canadian Tennis Hall of Fame. “Jack’s roles, which have spanned numerous decades, have helped lay many key foundational blocks for Canada’s current international tennis success.”