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Indian stars who made historical past—and an esteemed British journalist who recorded historical past—headline the Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Fame’s Class of 2024.
Famend author Richard Evans, who launched his profession in London protecting Corridor of Famer Althea Gibson, lined the best champions of the Open Period and wrote a definitive e-book on John McEnroe, joins former doubles world No. 1 Leander Paes and their good good friend, Vijay Amritraj because the three inductees for the Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Fame’s Class of 2024.
“Being acknowledged as having finished one thing helpful by one’s friends is at all times an amazing honor,” Evans mentioned. “It has additionally been such a pleasure to have spent a big a part of my profession writing about such a superb sport alongside gamers and fellow journalists whose expertise I’ve admired.”
Paes and Amritraj turn out to be the primary Indians elected to the Corridor of Fame. Paes shall be inducted within the Participant Class, with Amritraj and Evans chosen within the Contributor Class.
The Class of 2024 Induction Ceremony shall be held in Newport, R.I. on July twentieth, 2024. Packages and tickets will go on sale within the spring.
The Contributor Class is taken into account each two years, and it acknowledges true pioneers, visionary leaders, or people/teams who’ve made a transcendent influence on the game.
Vijay Amritraj has damaged obstacles and labored to unfold the game of tennis on and off the courtroom. As a participant within the Seventies and Nineteen Eighties, his success on courtroom helped to popularize tennis in India and on the Asian continent. Amritraj is a revered international ambassador for the game.
Richard Evans is a famend tennis journalist and historian. He has spent a lifetime contributing to the game’s progress and international attain.
Throughout Evans’ storied profession, he has reported on over 200 Grand Slams and authored 23 books. Richard Evans served as lead author for 2 of essentially the most revered American publications, World Tennis and Tennis Week.
Evans’ Roving Eye column for Tennis Week Magazine was probably the most widely-read columns within the sport. Evans later served as editor-at-large for Tennis Week Journal.
Evans joins Tennis Week founder Gene Scott, Bud Collins, Steve Flink, Vic Braden and photographer Russ Adams as the sixth former Tennis Week staffer to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, most of any tennis publication on the planet.
Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Fame Official Bios for Class of 2024
Leander Paes
Throughout his three-decade profession, Leander Paes topped the world rankings in doubles and received 18 Grand Slam titles. With eight doubles Grand Slam titles and 10 in combined doubles, he’s one in every of solely three males in tennis historical past to seize a profession Grand Slam in each disciplines. Paes is tied together with his former accomplice, Corridor of Famer Martina Navratilova, for essentially the most combined doubles main titles in historical past. Moreover, he and Corridor of Famer Martina Hingis are one in every of solely two combined doubles groups within the Open Period to finish a profession Grand Slam collectively. In a testomony to his longevity on the sport’s peak, Paes spent a complete of 462 weeks contained in the ATP doubles high 10, together with 37 weeks at No. 1, and received 55 doubles titles on tour.
Paes proudly represented India in worldwide competitors for 30 years, successful a Davis Cup file 45 doubles rubbers throughout his profession. He competed in a file seven consecutive Olympic Video games, essentially the most in tennis historical past, and is India’s solely Olympic medalist in tennis, capturing bronze in singles on the 1996 Atlanta Video games. Earlier this 12 months, followers across the globe forged their ballots and elected Paes because the winner of the Corridor of Fame’s annual Fan Vote for induction.
“It has been my life’s honor to play for my nation for over three many years in a sport that has given and taught me all the pieces,” Paes mentioned. “This acknowledgment is certainly the last word accolade for each tennis participant. Induction into the Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Fame belongs not simply to me, however to our billion-plus Indians. Receiving this honor culminates an expert journey of a lifetime, standing on the shoulders of greats and units the tone for different children in Asia and around the globe.”
Vijay Amritraj
Since turning into a globally acknowledged title as an athlete within the Seventies and Nineteen Eighties, Amritraj has used his profile to unfold the game of tennis all through India and the Asian continent. Amritraj’s trailblazing success on the ATP Tour popularized the game and impressed a era of recent gamers. Amritraj was one in every of India’s best gamers within the Open Period, anchoring India’s Davis Cup squad to its solely two Finals appearances in 1974 and 1987; in 1974, he performed a key position in India’s boycott of the Closing in opposition to South Africa to show in opposition to Apartheid.
Submit-retirement, Amritraj has turn out to be the face of tennis broadcasting in Asia and the Center East, sharing the game with thousands and thousands throughout the Grand Slams. As an administrator, he has helped to broaden skilled tennis’ presence in India, together with the ATP Chennai Open, WTA’s Chennai Open and two ATP Challenger occasions. Amritraj has persistently labored to advance humanitarian causes and the better good. In 2001, he grew to become the primary Indian to function United Nations Messenger of Peace. Since 2006, the Vijay Amritraj Basis has offered schooling, and fundamental wants for ladies and kids in India’s neediest communities.
“That is actually a blessing, and an honor to be included within the historical past of tennis, among the many greats who’ve performed and served the game,” Amritraj mentioned. “Acknowledging the fruits of a profession that began with sickness and now to be inducted within the Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Fame, is making not possible desires come true. It’s a present from above for me and my household and an honor for India.”
Richard Evans
For over six many years, Evans has been a preeminent voice on tennis as a journalist and historian. Since Wimbledon in 1960, he has reported on over 200 Grand Slams and quite a few different tournaments. His observations on the game and its gamers throughout watershed progress have resulted in 23 books authored over the course of his profession. Together with anthologies on Open tennis, the Davis Cup, biographies on a few of tennis’ most legendary names, and extra, Evans’ books stand the check of time as invaluable, insightful, and complete assets. Evans is among the founding members of the Worldwide Tennis Writers’ Affiliation and served as its president from 2001-04.
Evans was a key participant within the ATP Tour’s progress within the early Open Period. In 1973, following the Wimbledon boycott, he grew to become the group’s first press officer. From 1974-77, Evans served as ATP European Director in Paris, tasked with the job of persuading conventional newbie Match Administrators all through Europe to professionalize their occasions and deal with gamers as professionals. In 1977, he was voted onto the ATP Board of Administrators for 2 years. Throughout this time, Evans was instrumental in conceptualizing and proposing the creation of ATP College for gamers embarking on skilled careers and helped implement this system in 1980.
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