Newport
Paes, Amritraj & Evans inducted into Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Fame
Agassi, Evert, Navratilova amongst legends in attendance
July 21, 2024
Andrew Eichenholz/ATP Tour
Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Famers pose after Saturday night’s induction ceremony in Newport.
By Andrew Eichenholz
Leander Paes, Vijay Amritraj and Richard Evans have been inducted into the Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Fame on Saturday night in Newport, the place household, buddies and followers packed into the well-known horseshoe court docket on the venue for a memorable night.
“It’s my best honour to be on this stage with not solely these legends of the sport, [but] individuals who have impressed me each single day of my life,” Paes stated. “Not as a result of you’ve got received Grand Slams, not as a result of you’ve got formed the world of our sport. However each single one in all these folks has formed the world that we reside in. I want to thanks a lot for giving this Indian boy hope.”
Paes and Amritraj turned the primary Indian — and Asian — males to earn induction into the unique group as a participant and contributor, respectively. The pair have been trailblazers for Indian tennis and have been proud to characterize their nation.
“Enjoying for 1.4 billion folks might both be stress, or it could possibly be wind inside your wings,” Paes stated. “I’d wish to thank each single one in all my countrymen who supported me, who stood by me by means of all of the ups and downs, and we’ve been by means of a number of. However you all have been the inspiration, you all have been the assist. You have been even the energy to information me by means of once I didn’t consider.
“However as my father all the time stated to me, ‘When you consider in your self, you’re employed exhausting, you be passionate, not solely to win prize cash and never solely to win trophies, however you try this to encourage the world’.”
Amritraj was a prime participant, who reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals at 19 and received 28 tour-level titles between singles and doubles. He was as soon as a boy scuffling with lung issues in India, and now he has cemented his title on the worldwide stage ceaselessly.
“My expensive buddies, I’m humbled and honoured to hitch this unbelievable and unique group, which has introduced glory to our sport. Our sport has given me all the pieces in life. It has taken me locations I by no means thought I might go,” Amritraj stated. “It has allowed me to fulfill folks I by no means thought I might meet and it has given me extra issues than I might have doable imagined. It’ll all the time be part of our lives and all the time deliver households, communities and international locations collectively. Greater than the rest, I’m completely satisfied to say, India Day is again in New England.”
Andre Agassi and Chris Evert pose for a selfie forward of the Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Fame induction ceremony.”>
Evans has spent greater than 60 years chronicling the journeys of many individuals on the stage in Newport in addition to many extra tennis icons all through the world. Saturday night was his second to face on the other aspect of proceedings.
“It has been an extended journey. I want I had time to let you know all of the names of all the nice tennis writers I’ve written with in press bins around the globe like Rex Bellamy and naturally Bud Collins, who’s of this parish,” Evans stated. “Bud was unbelievable and Allison Danzig and Al Laney as writers of a earlier age in America all used their expertise to write down about tennis, which is a sport [that] must be promoted at each stage and written about with as a lot expertise and elegance and enthusiasm and fervour as these of us who love the game might muster, so thanks very a lot for greeting me right here immediately and I hope to see you down the highway.”
There have been a number of different Corridor of Famers on stage, together with former No. 1 within the PIF ATP Rankings Andre Agassi, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Stan Smith and Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Fame Honourary President Kim Clijsters.
Navratilova stood on the dais to introduce Paes, with whom he received two main titles in combined doubles.
“He was an artist on the court docket, a tremendous athlete, a virtuoso,” Navratilova stated. “He wielded the tennis racquet like an orchestra conductor wield the baton. Leander, it was really my honour to play towards you. I loved it much more once I performed with you. You will have achieved your loved ones proud, you’ve got achieved our sport proud and most of all you’ve got achieved India proud.”
Leander Paes, Richard Evans and Vijay Amritraj on the Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Fame induction ceremony.”>