Serving Up a New Chapter
By Andrea E. McHugh
The International Tennis Hall of Fame presents a new slate of summer offerings, from women’s tennis to a weekend dedicated to the latest inductees
Images courtesy of the ITHF
Newport is a city of contradictions. It prizes its deeply rooted history but is evolving at warp speed; a place where time-honored traditions are held dear by residents while reinvention unfolds around them in real time. Like other communities rooted in Yankee sensibilities, it can be intrinsically resistant to change. So, when the ATP Tour announced in late 2023 that it was dissolving the 250-level Hall of Fame Open in 2024, there was a collective gasp. Not only across Newport, but across the sports world.
The Hall of Fame Open held in Newport every July was the only ATP grass-court tournament played outside of Europe. The international event represented the modern chapter of the nearly 150-year legacy of competitive play at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, a seven-acre complex wedged between tony Bellevue Avenue and Freebody Street, a neighborhood marked by small retail businesses, private homes and the high school football field.
ITHF Induction Celebration highlights:
- Friday, Aug. 22 at 2 p.m.: Hall of Famers and Hollywood collide as stars hit the court for the Celebrity Pro Classic, featuring Uzo Aduba, Hannah Berner, and Angela Kinsley, along with James Blake, the Bryan Brothers, Kim Clijsters, Andy Roddick, and Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario (tickets available here)
- Saturday, Aug. 23 at 8 p.m.: A concert featuring Fitz and the Tantrums on the Stadium Court (tickets available here)
When the first U.S. National Lawn Tennis Championship was contested here in 1881, it was the official coming out party for the Newport Casino. Commissioned by New York Herald publisher James Gordon Bennett, Jr., the casino — the Gilded Age’s preeminent social club for the nation’s most prominent families — put the newly formed architectural firm McKim, Mead & White on the map, launching what would become a juggernaut in American design. (The firm designed more than a dozen properties in Newport, including Rosecliff, as well as the Rhode Island State House, the Boston Public Library, and Madison Square Garden.)
The breakup wasn’t personal; the ATP retired multiple 250 tournaments around the world (250 refers to the number of ranking points awarded to the singles champion). And it wasn’t as though the ITHF hadn’t been forced to pivot in a big way before. In 1914, the National Lawn Tennis Championship outgrew Newport, relocated to New York City a year later, and would eventually become known as the US Open. But the ATP’s decision did force leadership at the ITHF to reshape what competitive play would look like moving forward.
A Golden Era Waiting in the Wings
Serendipitously, change has been at the forefront for the ITHF in recent years, so the ATP’s redirection neatly converged alongside other critical shifts the organization had in the pipeline.
“When I was asked to take the helm a little over two years ago, it was already understood that for the next five to 10 years, this was going to be considered this golden era of inductees,” explains CEO Dan Faber, who came to the organization in early 2023 after a decade as chief executive of the USTA Foundation.
“All the Hall of Famers are epic, all the Hall of Famers are amazing in their own right, but the sport of tennis, I don’t think, has seen so many of these household names being inducted year after year after year,” says Faber. “People even outside of tennis know who Serena Williams is, they know who Roger Federer is, and so forth. With that said, we have to think differently. We have to reimagine the Hall of Fame, and I said the day I started, the lofty goal we have is to be the most ultimate Hall of Fame in the world of sports, and in order to do that, we have to start thinking differently.”
Faber’s addition came after the ITHF announced a $12 million capital campaign, Tennis Forever, in which funds were sought not just for the museum’s renovations, but for the digitization of the museum’s collection, resurfacing of the historic grass courts, renovation of the Court Tennis facility, and the ongoing sustainability of TeamFAME, a program for under-resourced youth that teaches tennis and offers academic support, character-building activities, and health and wellness resources to middle school students in Newport County.
In May, the ITHF opened the doors of the reinvented museum following a six-month closure and more than $3 million worth of state-of-the-art renovations.
From the moment they enter, guests experience a contemporary welcome center, then ascend to the second floor to take in the Celebration Gallery, which tells the story of how each generation has inspired the next. The gallery’s Inspirational Legacies AR Experience, an augmented reality sculpture, engages fans of all ages; its technology a vast juxtaposition to the original in-tact architecture of the
historic building.
A new Newport Tennis Traditions gallery celebrates Newport’s tennis origins. It features a display of perpetual US Open trophies, and visitors may wander through the ever-growing collection of artifacts, ranging from racquets and balls to footwear to fashion.
Past visitors may remember the 2015 Roger Federer hologram, but the experience has been completely reinvented as an immersive video dubbed “The Majors.” In it, the global icon and 20-time Grand Slam champion relives unforgettable moments that have defined tennis history on the sport’s grandest stages.
“People can go into this immersive movie and feel they are right dab in the middle of one of the different Slams, and experiencing that with Roger Federer,” explains Faber.
The grand finale is The Hall of Famers Gallery, where each of the 270 inductees to date has a dedicated cast racquet alongside career highlights and a QR code that fans can use to take a deeper dive into the accomplishments of their favorite players.
All the Single Ladies (and Doubles…)
While the museum honors history and celebrates innovation, the Hall of Fame Tournament is all about today’s talent, centering women’s tennis for the first time since the early 1990s.
“The return of professional women’s tennis to the grass courts of the International Tennis Hall of Fame is the most exciting change for 2025,” declares Chief Operating Officer & Tournament Director Brewer Rowe.
It’s been a long time coming, but it’s not the first time women have competitively traded shots here.
Women competed on the grounds in 1971 before standing-room-only crowds as Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Margaret Court and other leading players duked it out on the courts; the Virginia Slims tournaments played from 1983 to 1998 featured only female competitors.
To Faber, the return of women’s tennis to Newport is long overdue.
“We’re the Hall of Fame and we represent all genders,” he says. “We committed to equal prize money. We believe in that, just like the Original 9 and Billie Jean King did back in their day. It’s important we honor the same thing. I believe we’re the only combined super challenger of men and women in the United States and we’re probably in the top five with prize money for women at this level.”
For Rowe, that change feels personal.
“As a father of two teenage daughters, I could not be prouder to play a small part in gender equality in sports,” he says. “To be able to come home after work and tell them about all the wonderful things that the WTA players are doing has been a real treat over the last year.”
The addition of women’s play will also mean double the court action, bringing a new energy to the summertime tourney, which this year takes place from July 6-13.
As of early June, the Hall of Fame Open had awarded its first WTA main draw wild cards to former world No. 5 Genie Bouchard and American Christina McHale, with rising star Anna Frey accepting a qualifying wild card. Other stars announced include Americans Hailey Baptist (career-high ranking singles No. 58), Alycia Parks (career-high ranking singles No. 40), and Katie Volynets (career-high ranking singles No. 56).
“The entire property will be buzzing all week,” says Rowe, “and the venue can’t be beat.”
“Whether you’re an avid tennis fan or just a casual fan to the sport, the International Tennis Hall of Fame is the most intimate venue in professional sports. The farthest seat away from the playing surface is row 30. Compared to major stadiums, that is lower bowl and the premium seats,” says Rowe. In his eyes, the event offers the best visitor experience from a fan perspective.
A Conscious Uncoupling
Historically, the Hall of Fame’s Induction Ceremony and Celebration unfolded on the last day of the Open. This year will introduce a three-day Induction Celebration in late August, with the addition of a fan fest, food truck festival, concert, the official ceremony, a fashion-forward party at Marble House, and the inaugural Hall of Fame Celebrity Pro Classic.
“We decoupled it from the actual tennis tournament so we have more than one opportunity for people to come and experience Newport at the Hall of Fame,” explains Faber. “It’s more relevant. It’s reaching to all sports fans as well as non-sports fans; that’s why we’re bringing in a culinary experience, we’re bringing in music, the way we’re conducting the weekend is way more about fan engagement.”
The Hall of Fame Celebrity Pro Classic will feature mic’d up doubles matches with teams of celebrity guests including Emmy Award-winning actress Uzo Aduba and actress Angela Kinsey playing alongside Hall of Famers including Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters, Tracy Austin, Jim Courier, Arantxa
Sánchez Vicario, and Gigi Fernandez.
The tennis legends being honored in this year’s Induction Celebration held on Aug. 23 include Maria Sharapova and doubles players and brothers Bob and Mike Bryan. The induction ceremony will be followed by a concert featuring Fitz and The Tantrums, who will close out the weekend’s festivities.
With a reimagined museum, a bold new vision for its signature tournament, and year-round commitment to the sport, the International Tennis Hall of Fame is serving up a dynamic new era in tennis.
