Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion identified for loads of on-court grit and off-court consideration, and Bob and Mike Bryan, twins who gained a document 16 main titles in males’s doubles collectively, are first-ballot choices for the Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Fame.
The Newport, Rhode Island-based Corridor introduced the Class of 2025 outcomes Thursday.
Sharapova gained at the very least one championship at every of her sport’s 4 most prestigious occasions, making her one in every of 10 girls in tennis historical past to finish a profession Grand Slam, and he or she was the primary Russian lady to succeed in No. 1 within the WTA singles rankings. She retired in 2020 at age 32 after a profession that included 15 years within the highlight, a 15-month doping ban and a number of operations on her proper shoulder.
The Bryan brothers additionally compiled a profession Grand Slam and spent 438 weeks at No. 1 within the ATP doubles rankings. They gained a gold medal on the 2012 London Olympics and helped the USA win the 2007 Davis Cup title; Bob is at present the captain of the American staff that can go to Malaga, Spain, for subsequent month’s finals to compete for the nation’s first triumph in that competitors since then.
Mike Bryan — he’s right-handed, and his brother is a lefty — is the profession chief with 18 main males’s doubles trophies total; he obtained two with Jack Sock whereas Bob was injured in 2018.
Sharapova grew to become an prompt star when she gained her first main title at Wimbledon in 2004 at age 17 by beating Serena Williams within the remaining, then collected the trophies on the U.S. Open in 2006, the Australian Open in 2008 and the French Open in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova helped Russia win the staff competitors now referred to as the Billie Jean King Cup in 2008, and he or she claimed a silver medal in singles on the 2012 Olympics, dropping to Williams within the remaining.
All of the whereas, Sharapova earned hundreds of thousands of {dollars} extra in endorsement offers than prize cash.
“There are a few sides of me,” Sharapova mentioned in an interview with The Related Press in 2006, shortly earlier than she gained the title at Flushing Meadows. “There’s the Maria that’s a tennis participant. There’s the Maria that could be a regular woman. And there’s the Maria who’s a businesswoman. And that’s the place the ‘Maria Sharapova model’ comes into play.”
On the 2016 Australian Open, Sharapova examined constructive for the newly banned drug meldonium and initially was handed a two-year suspension. After interesting to the Court docket of Arbitration for Sport, Sharapova was given a lowered penalty when it was decided that she bore “lower than important fault” within the case and couldn’t “be thought-about to be an intentional doper.”
The Bryans and Sharapova can be inducted in August.
Daniel Nestor, a Canadian who gained 12 Grand Slam titles in males’s or combined doubles, didn’t obtain the 75 per cent of the vote required to qualify for the Corridor in balloting amongst members of the media, historians, Corridor of Fame members, business consultants and followers. This was his third — and remaining — yr as a candidate.
