Say It Ain't So: Bollettieri Snubbed by Hall Again
By Chris Oddo Photo Credit: Thomas Bender
News broke Saturday that living legend Nick Bollettieri, coach to 10 former No. 1 players including Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Jim Courier and Monica Seles, was denied entrance to the International Tennis Hall of Fame for a second time. The 80-year-old New York native was one of three contributors nominated, and the only full-time coach among the three nominees in the 2012 class.
A Sarasota Herald-Tribune article by Mic Huber states that Bollettieri learned last week that he would not get the nod. "What haven't I done?” Bollettieri said to Huber.
It’s a fair question.
There has to be a mistake, right? Some sort of glitch in the machine, a misunderstanding—perhaps Bollettieri’s name was accidentally left off the ballot?
In reality the only mistake is this: The International Tennis Hall of Fame does not value coaching. How could it be anything else but that? Bollettieri getting into the International Tennis Hall of Fame is the no-brainer to end all no-brainers. His application is bulletproof. The man is a bonafide tennis messiah.
It’s not what Bollettieri hasn’t done; it’s what Hall of Fame voters refuse to do. For the second time in three years, the required 75 percent quota of voter approval has not been met. That means that one of every four voters does not believe that Bollettieri is Hall of Fame worthy.
It boggles the mind that a coach of his caliber has yet to get his due. But the truth is that the Hall of Fame feels this way about all coaches. Go ahead and check through the 60-plus years of inductees. You will be surprised by the scarcity of coaches on the list. My fine comb only detected one: Dr. Robert Johnson.
It remains to be seen if any of the other nominees will gain admittance in 2012. Mike Davies, a tennis promoter and administrator from Wales, and Eiichi Kawatei, a leader in development and promotion of the sport in Asia, were the other two nominees.
Regardless of how qualified the other nominees were it’s still hard to fathom a scenario where Bollettieri doesn’t get in.
On the Hall of Fame’s nomination page, you can read the following text on the fabled founder of the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy: “The legendary coach has an unparalleled record of discovering and developing champions of the sport...Four of his players have been inducted to the Tennis Hall of Fame—with more likely to follow.”
It begs the question once again: What hasn’t he done?
He is the father of the full-time tennis boarding school. He had a vision for a tennis talent monopoly and he made it work with ruthless efficiency. His boundless energy and confidence was and is the same boundless energy and confidence that his 10 No. 1 players possessed when they climbed to the top of tennis.
With Bollettieri, the results speak for themselves. To see him turned down by the Hall just doesn’t make sense.
He’s done enough.
Just let him in.