PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Mats Wilander, who won seven Grand Slam
singles titles, and doubles specialist Pam Shriver were elected
Wednesday to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport.
|  | | Mats Wilander will have to take time out from coaching Marat Safin this summer -- Hall of Fame induction is calling. |
Each received the required 75 percent of the vote by a panel of
international tennis media and will be inducted on July 13.
The 37-year-old Wilander was ranked No. 1 in 1988, when he won
the Australian, French and U.S. Opens. He finished his career with
three Australian, three French and one U.S. Open title.
Shriver, 39, became the only amateur to reach the U.S. Open
final during the open era in 1978, when she was 16.
She went on to win 21 singles titles and 112 doubles titles
during an 18-year professional career, including a record 109
doubles wins with Martina Navratilova. They won 20 major doubles
events, including capturing all four in 1984 for the first-ever
Grand Slam in women's doubles.
"I think my induction is more unique than most people,"
Shriver said via conference call from Melbourne, Australia, where
she is a TV analyst for the Australian Open. "My partner has been
quite a help."
Shriver said one of her first calls on learning of her election
was to Navratilova, who was inducted into the hall in 2000. "I
left her a message and said thanks," she said.
With Zina Garrison, Shriver won a gold medal in doubles for the
United States at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea. Since 1996, she has
served on the board of directors of the U.S. Tennis
Association.
Wilander led Sweden to Davis Cup championships in 1984, 1985 and
1987. His career spanned two eras in men's tennis and saw marked
changes in the way the game is played.
"I feel very fortunate to have played with Jimmy Connors on one
side and Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras on the other," he said.
Wilander became the youngest man to win a Grand Slam singles
event in 1982, when he won the French Open at 17 years, 9 months.
The record was later broken by Boris Becker and then Michael Chang.
After peaking in 1988, his singles career quickly declined. "I
worked as hard in '89 and '90," he said. "I just didn't feel like
I had the motivation to compete and to win in the same way that I
did before."
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