By Charles Bricker
First, a standing ovation for tough-blogging tennis writer Pete Bodo (http://tennisworld.typepad.com/tennisworld/2010/02/ihop.html) for criticizing the voters at the International Tennis Hall of Fame for refusing to accept into their “club” Mr. Nick Bollettieri, a man who does more for tennis in one week than most of these people have done in a lifetime.
Next, a few thoughts of my own, and they won’t be received kindly in Newport, R.I., where this institution is headquartered.
I shouldn’t have to lay Bollettieri’s 30-year contribution to the game before anyone, though I will — just to get it on the record. But before I go there, a few remarks about why the ITHF is the worst Hall of Fame of any major sport in the U.S.
* The voting process is heavily flawed with former players having an influential voice in who gets in. I can tell you from long experience that players would let just about any other star-quality player into a hall of fame or place him on an all-star list. They have no sense of objectivity and many of the candidates are personal friends of the voters. Contrast that with the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which is run entirely by long-time football media people. They owe nothing to no player and they have long, sometimes very contentious arguments before a final decision is made the day before the Super Bowl.
* Someone has to go into the tennis Hall of Fame every year, even if there is no one who is truly deserving, because the Hall relies on its week-long series of events in July for the revenue. If no one goes in, there’s no induction. No induction, no one comes to Newport to spend money. Tennis isn’t like pro football, where there are 1,600 players every season. There are a limited number of high-achieving players and there are years when no one should be considered. The result of this demand to sometimes induct anyone results in an affirmative vote for players who never won a Grand Slam singles title.
* Doubles players are considered at the same level as singles players. I like doubles. I play doubles. But if Halls of Fame are for the best of the best, the very elite, how can you compare Pam Shriver, for example, with Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles? There should be a separate category for doubles players, where Shriver belongs. She never won a major singles championship. One day, the Hall undoubtedly will induct Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge. Are their tennis skills on the same or approximately the same level as the best singles players of their era?
By settling for “good” instead of exclusively “elite,” the International Tennis Hall of Fame diminishes itself a little further every year.
Nick Bollettieri was not a player, but there is a contributor category and it’s ludicrous that he wasn’t taken in years ago. For God’s sake, they’ve inducted reporters into the contributor section. Reporters! Hey. You vote for me and I’ll vote for you.
While you’re contemplating the absurdity of journalists, who are supposed to report the news and not make it, gaining access to a Hall of Fame, Nick is down in Bradenton, Fla., shaking his head in personal disbelief at being rejected once again by the ITHF and pondering the conventional wisdom that this is personal.
“If it’s personal, I feel sorry for those people. You can dislike someone, but at least judge them on what they’ve done,” he said.
“When I heard about the vote, I had a flash of anger,” he admitted. “And then a sense of disappointment. So I told my wife, ‘You know, that’s OK. Let’s just move on.’ But she said, ‘No, you write them a nice letter.’
“I did. I said I was disappointed but I congratulated those recipients who got in. And I’ll go back to helping kids. We’ve probably given $10 million or more worth of scholarships to this academy (IMG Bollettieri Academy). I’ve been associated or coached 10 No. 1 players (Jim Courier, Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Monica Sales, Maria Sharapova, Martina Hingis, Jelena Jankovic, Marcelo Rios and Venus and Serena Williams). Why can’t they judge on that rather than whether you like someone who wears shades or coaches with his shirt off.”
It was a rhetorical question, of course. It didn’t need an answer. In one sense, I understand Bollettieri’s deep disappointment. But in another sense, I wonder why he cares.
The International Tennis Hall of Fame long ago became completely irrelevant to the game.
Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com