By Alberto Amalfi | Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Former world No. 2 Conchita Martínez, the 1994 Wimbledon champion, leads a list of four distinguished champions on the ballot for induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Photo credit: International Tennis Federation Facebook
Conchita Martínez won Wimbledon in 1994 and helped coach Garbiñe Muguruza to the Rosewater Dish in 2017.
Now, the former world No. 2 leads the list of four candidates on the ballot for 2020 induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
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The candidates are:
*Sweden’s Jonas Björkman, winner of nine major doubles titles & former doubles world No. 1
*Back-to-back Roland-Garros champion Sergi Bruguera of Spain
*2001 Wimbledon champion and former world No. 2 Goran Ivanišević of Croatia
*1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martínez of Spain, a three-time Olympic medalist and member of five championship Fed Cup teams
All four players have gone on to successful coaching careers as well.
The ballot for the Class of 2020 will go before the ITHF Player Voting Group, which is comprised of tennis media, historians, and Hall of Famers.
Additionally, tennis fans across the globe are encouraged to voice their opinions about who is deserving of Hall of Fame induction by taking part in the Fan Vote.
Fan Voting will open on Monday, August 26th at vote.tennisfame.com, and run through September 29th.
The top three vote getters in the Fan Vote will earn bonus percentage points added to their result from the ITHF Player Voting Group.
Li Na won the 2019 Fan Vote and was elected into Hall of Fame's Class of 2019 at the historic Hall in Newport, Rhode Island last month.
First place will receive 3 bonus percentage points, second place will receive 2, and third place will receive a bonus of 1 percentage point.
To be elected into the Hall of Fame, a candidate must receive an affirmative vote of 75% or more from the Player Voting Group result or a combined total of 75% or more from the Player Voting Group result and any bonus percentage points they earn through the Fan Vote.
“Tennis fans around the globe responded to last year’s invitation to be part of the International Tennis Hall of Fame enshrinement process, with votes coming in from 148 nations,” said International Tennis Hall of Fame CEO Todd Martin. “Our intent behind Fan Voting is to offer a unique way for tennis fans to engage with the sport’s history and its most inspiring players. We’re glad to make Fan Voting a regular part of the enshrinement process and encourage fans to make their voices and opinions heard by voting in the month ahead.”
The results of Fan Voting will be announced at the conclusion of the voting period in late September.
The overall results and the complete Induction Class of 2020 will be announced in January. The 2020 Induction Ceremony will be hosted on July 18, 2020 in Newport, RI.
Here's the Hall of Fame induction committee's bios of each of the four champion candidates:
Former world No. 1 doubles player Jonas Björkman of Sweden won nine major titles and achieved a doubles career Grand Slam. He was twice a champion at the ATP Tour Year-End Championships, and captured 54 doubles titles in all. In singles, Björkman reached a career high of world No. 4 and was a semifinalist at both the US Open and Wimbledon. A dedicated team player, Björkman played a major role on three Swedish Davis Cup championship squads.
Spanish clay court great Sergi Bruguera accomplished a massive feat when he won back-to-back titles at Roland-Garros in 1993 and 1994. His first title came against two-time defending champion Jim Courier, after Bruguera came back from being down 2-0 in the fifth set. Bruguera reached a career high ranking of world No. 3 and won 14 titles in all. He was a silver medalist at the 1996 Olympics.
Croatia’s Goran Ivanišević’s serve-and-volley style of play led him to great success on the grass courts of Wimbledon where he was a quarterfinalist once, semifinalist twice, and finalist three times, before winning the title in 2001. That year, ranked world No. 125, the big-serving lefty was granted a wildcard into the tournament. In a magical run to the trophy he knocked out three players who were former or future world No. 1s en route to a five-set battle with Patrick Rafter in the final. Ivanišević is a two-time Olympic medalist, having won a singles bronze and doubles bronze, both in 1992.
In her 15-year career on the WTA Tour, Conchita Martínez won 33 singles titles and 13 doubles titles. She was the 1994 Wimbledon champion, defeating nine-time champion Martina Navratilova in the final. She was also a finalist at the Australian Open and French Open. Martínez reached a career high of world No. 2 and spent 190 weeks ranked inside the world top 5. The Spanish great represented her country with much dedication and success. She was a key member of five championship Fed Cup teams and a three-time Olympic medalist in doubles.