Davenport and Bollettieri Headline 2014 Hall of Fame Class
Former world No. 1 and 6-time Grand Slam tournament champion Lindsay Davenport has been elected to receive the highest honor in the sport of tennis—enshrinement in the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Joining Davenport in the Class of 2014 will be five time Paralympic medalist Chantal Vandierendonck, who was the first ITF World Champion for wheelchair tennis. The Class of 2014 Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony will be held on Saturday, July 12, 2014.
Additionally, three individuals have been elected in recognition of their tremendous dedication toward the growth and development of the sport—legendary tennis coach Nick Bollettieri, who has guided 10 players to world No. 1 status; Jane Brown Grimes, who has held executive leadership roles with the WTA, USTA, and the International Tennis Hall of Fame; and British tennis broadcaster and author John Barrett.
Celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2014, the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the history of tennis and honoring its greatest champions and leaders. The Hall of Fame offers an extensive museum that chronicles the history of the sport and honors the game's greatest legends. Over the past 60 years, the honor of enshrinement in the International Tennis Hall of Fame has been presented to just 235 people representing 20 countries.
The Class of 2014 Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony will be held on Saturday, July 12, 2014. The ceremony will be a highlight of the Rolex Hall of Fame Enshrinement Weekend, which will also feature the unveiling of museum tribute exhibits for the new Hall of Famers, celebratory parties and special events, and an exhibition match featuring great tennis legends. The ceremony and festivities will be held in conjunction with the annual Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, an ATP World Tour event.
From winning the biggest titles in tennis to serving as leaders across many areas of the sport, the members of the Class of 2014 have all been integral in shaping the history of tennis. Following are biographies of the Class of 2014, grouped by category.
Recent Player: Lindsay Davenport
Recent Player, Wheelchair Tennis: Chantal Vandierendonck
Lindsay Davenport is one of four women to have been the year-end No. 1 at least four times (1998, 2001, 2004, and 2005), since 1975. She was also the No. 1 ranked doubles player, and is one of just six players to have held both top spots simultaneously.
Davenport won three Grand Slam singles titles—1998 US Open, 1999 Wimbledon, and 2000 Australian Open. In 1996, Davenport won the Olympic gold medal at the Atlanta Games. She was the WTA Tour Championships winner in 1999. In all, she won an impressive 55 singles titles and compiled a record of 753-194.
Davenport won 38 doubles titles over the course of her career, and compiled a record of 387-116. Davenport enjoyed a lengthy career of 17 years. She remarkably came back into tour-level competition twice after giving birth. Davenport has been recognized for her success and contributions to the sport on numerous occasions, with awards including the WTA Player of the Year (1998, 1999), TENNIS Magazine Female Player of the Year (1998), ESPY Award for Best Female Tennis Player (1999, 2000), and the WTA Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (2004.) Since retirement, Davenport has developed a successful broadcast career as an on-air commentator and analyst for Tennis Channel.
Chantal Vandierendonck, 49, of The Netherlands, was one of the early stars of Wheelchair Tennis. She was the ITF World Champion three times, she won 5 Paralympic medals, and she was the world No. 1 player for a total of 136 weeks in singles and 107 weeks in doubles. What makes her success even more impressive is that Vandierendonck is considered a high para player, which means she has significant disability, making the sport even more difficult to play.
Vandierendonck was a talented national tennis player before being injured in a car accident in 1983. She heard about wheelchair tennis from an uncle who had seen it being played on television, and she quickly picked up the sport. She became the first in a long line of top-ranked Dutch women in the sport, and she has taken an active role in helping to grow the sport.
After being crowned the first ITF World Champion in 1991, Vandierendonck then went on to win the title again in 1996 and 1997. Between 1985 and 1993, she won seven women's singles titles at the US Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships. She also captured two doubles titles at the event.
Vandierendonck was tremendously successful in the Paralympic Games. She won the women's singles gold medal at the 1998 Seoul Games, when wheelchair tennis was a demonstration sport. She then went on to win two women's doubles gold medals, a women's singles silver and a women's singles bronze at the 1992 and 1996 Games, after wheelchair tennis was awarded full medal status.
Contributor Category: Nick Bollettieri, Jane Brown Grimes, John Barrett
Nick Bollettieri, 82, originally from North Pelham, N.Y., but a long-time Florida resident, is widely regarded as one of the most influential people in the world of tennis. Bollettieri has coached ten world No. 1 players including Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, and Boris Becker. In addition, he has worked with the Williams sisters, Maria Sharapova, Tommy Haas, and many more. Four of his players have been enshrined into the International Tennis Hall of Fame—with more likely to follow. After more than 30 years of coaching, at 82 years old,
In 1978, he founded the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy (NBTA), the first full-time tennis boarding school that integrated intense athletic training on and off the court with academic curriculum. In addition to the elite professionals whom Bollettieri and his team have trained over the years, perhaps his proudest accomplishment is the standout college preparatory program he helped set in motion. Today, through rigorous academics and athletics, IMG Academy places more than 60% of its student-athletes in Division I athletic programs (the national average is less than 2%), with countless more receiving scholarships to attend prestigious universities like Duke, Stanford, Princeton, and Harvard.
Over the years, Bollettieri has helped raise millions of dollars in scholarships to enable talented young players to continue their development and chase their collegiate and professional dreams. In addition, he is active with numerous organizations that have worked to engage underprivileged youth with the sport. With his friend, Hall of Famer Arthur Ashe, Bollettieri founded the Ashe-Bollettieri Cities Tennis program, which launched in Newark, N.J. in the late 1980s. The program introduced thousands of youth to the sport and helped hundreds achieve athletic or academic scholarships. The program was reproduced in other cities, and became known as the Arthur Ashe Safe Passage Foundation.
In addition, Bollettieri has served on numerous USTA committees focusing on player development and growth of the game. Bollettieri was inducted into the Tennis Industry Hall of Fame in 2012, and the USPTA Hall of Fame the following year.
Jane Brown Grimes, 73, of New York, N.Y., has selflessly dedicated her life to the growth of tennis around the world for more than 35 years. In particular, Brown Grimes has had a major impact on three leading industry organizations, the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum, the Women's Tennis Association, and the United States Tennis Association, having held leadership roles with all three. She has also been highly active with the International Tennis Federation, having served on the Junior Competitions Committee and the Rules of Tennis Committee. She is currently an active member of the Fed Cup Committee, and has served since 2004. From 2005 – 2008, Brown Grimes served on the Grand Slam Board, on behalf of the USTA.
In 1986, Brown Grimes was appointed Managing Director of the Women's Professional Tennis Council, now known as the WTA Tour Board. She presided over a pivotal time in the sport, effectively dealing with contradictory interests of players, tournaments, ITF, and the sponsor, Philip Morris. During Brown Grimes’ tenure, she successfully negotiated the move away from the Virginia Slims tobacco sponsorship to General Foods, the non-tobacco division of Philip Morris. Brown Grimes was also responsible for guiding the age eligibility rule into effect and for generating unprecedented increases in prize money.
From January 2007 – December 2008, Brown Grimes served as Chairman of the Board and President of the USTA, following terms as Secretary, Treasurer, and First Vice President. During her term, the United States won the 2007 Davis Cup, and unprecedented growth of the US Open took place with numerous innovations and records in both in revenue and in fan attendance.
In addition to her executive roles, Brown Grimes has utilized her love of the sport for important community works. She has served on the Board of Directors of USTA Serves, and she has been the longtime Chairman of the Rodney Street Tennis & Tutoring Association, which is an inner-city, grassroots tennis program located in Wilmington, Del.
John Barrett got his start in the sport as a player. Following a successful playing career as a junior, he became the Royal Air Force's tennis champion in 1950 and 1951 and competed at Wimbledon for twenty years. In 1956, he was a member of Great Britain's Davis Cup Team and he served as the team captain from 1959-1962. In the world of junior development he founded the BP International Tennis Fellowship, and the BP Cup which launched the international career of Martina Navratilova and many others. In 1976 he founded the Pepsi Junior International Series, a points-linked program which was the forerunner of the ITF's present Junior Ranking lists.
As a committee member, and current Vice President, of the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, Barrett took on the enormous task of compiling a comprehensive database of every result that has ever occurred at Wimbledon, in all events. The research and work took more than 20 years to compile and is now being made available to the general public on the Club's website.
Perhaps he has been most visible in the sport over recent years as an accomplished broadcaster. For 35 years Barrett has delivered some of the sport's most exciting moments into homes around the world as a broadcaster for major networks. He was the unmistakable "Voice of Wimbledon" on the BBC from 1971-2006, and has also been on the air with Channel 9 Australia, Channel 7 Australia, ESPN, HBO, and USA Networks.
The Class of 2014 Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony will be held on Saturday, July 12, 2014.
