NEWPORT, RI – The International Tennis Hall of Fame is doubling the museum’s exhibition space and installing plaques just in time to honor all-time greats like Roger Federer and Serena Williams. A $3 million renovation plan to redesign the gallery has been unveiled.
“If you think about the golden age of who will be inducted in the next five to 10 years; [it’s] Perfect timing,” Hall CEO Dan Faber said Tuesday.
Most notable among the upgrades is a new display for inductees, replacing the plaques on the wall with a lineup of markers that include a gold tennis racket that reflects the hall’s logo. A replica of the racket is given to the inductee as part of the induction ceremony.
“This honor represents an honor given to inductees, both players and contributors,” said Reese Stevens, who helped design the new display. “The gold mint racket will be a new expression of what it means to be in the Hall of Fame,” she said.
The Inductee Gallery takes you from the beginning of the exhibition to the end of a meandering tour through the 19th-century buildings surrounding the only grass court regularly open to the public in the United States. New retail stores will be added once the exhibition closes.
Previously, the building’s layout meant visitors would start in the plaque gallery, explore the exhibits, and then return twice to exit.
“We want to be very respectful of the fact that this is a historic building, and we know that,” said Mindy Ward, whose design firm Advent was involved in the planning. “One of the challenges we had, and one we embraced with enthusiasm, was to ensure that what we were developing was fresh, new and contemporary, but also perfectly aligned with the historic displays of historic art and architecture that we had not done before. “I don’t want to just get rid of it.”
This is the first major upgrade to the hall since 2015. The plaque gallery has not been updated since 2008. Approximately 30,000 visitors tour the halls in person each year. This number is expected to double, and there are plans to make exhibits more accessible online for those who cannot visit.
The hall will be closed during renovations, which are scheduled to begin in November and end in May next year.
Players become eligible for Hall of Fame induction five years after they last became a “significant factor” on the ATP or WTA tours. Federer retired in 2021 and Williams a year later. That means you will be eligible for induction in 2026 and 2027.
“The golden age of tennis is probably retiring, but it is now upon us,” said Hall Vice President Julianna Barbieri. “Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Venus Williams are all set to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and it was time for us to step up and modernize what we currently have in the gallery. For the evolution of the sport, the game since 2008 It makes it better suited to who and what it has evolved into.”
Chairman Patrick McEnroe also said the organization was planning a new event after the Hall of Fame Open lost its place on the ATP schedule after this season. The tournament has been played for nearly 50 years in July with an induction ceremony, but many top players have skipped the tournament and taken a break in the week following Wimbledon.
Specific details will be announced next month.
“You know that saying, ‘Today is the first day of the rest of your life?’” McEnroe said. “Next year is the first year of the rest of our lives, and something really cool is going to happen.”
