Hall of fame

A hall of fame is a structure housing memorials to famous or illustrious individuals in a certain field, usually chosen by a group of electors. The meaning of "fame" has changed over the years, originally meaning "renown" as opposed to today's more common meaning of "celebrity".

In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or museums which enshrine the honorees with sculptures, plaques, and displays of memorabilia and general information regarding the inducted recipient/s. Sometimes, the honorees' plaques may instead be posted on a wall (hence a '"wall of fame") or inscribed on a sidewalk (as in a "walk of fame" or an "avenue of fame"). In others, the hall of fame is more figurative and just simply consists of a list of names of noteworthy individuals (or sometimes groups, for ex. Sporting groups or Rock groups) maintained by an organization or community or honouring its inducted members legacy or legend.

The English-language term was popularised in the United States by the Hall of Fame for Great Americans at Bronx Community College, in New York City, completed in 1900. Its inspiration is the Ruhmeshalle ("Hall of Fame") in Munich, Germany. The Walhalla memorial in Bavaria, Germany, is an even earlier hall of fame, conceived in 1807 and built from 1900 to 1907.

International Tennis Hall of Fame

Coordinates: 41°28′58″N 71°18′30″W / 41.482774°N 71.308243°W / 41.482774; -71.308243

The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors players and contributors to the sport of tennis and includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indoor tennis facility, and a court tennis (or real tennis) facility.

History

The hall of fame and museum are located in the Newport Casino, which was commissioned in 1880 by James Gordon Bennett, Jr. as an exclusive resort for the rich and wealthy, and was designed by Charles McKim along with Stanford White, who did the interiors. By the 1950s, the retreat was struggling financially and was in danger of being demolished for modern retail space.

The United States Lawn Tennis Association had held its first championships at the Newport Casino in 1881, an event that would continue through 1914, by which time tennis had become the key attraction at the resort. In 1954, Jimmy Van Alen established the Tennis Hall of Fame and Museum in the Casino. The combination of tennis matches and the museum allowed the building to be saved. It is an example of Victorian Shingle Style architecture.

Martina Hingis

Martina Hingis (born 30 September 1980) is a Swiss professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 1 in doubles by the WTA. She spent a total of 209 weeks as the singles world No. 1 and has won five Grand Slam singles titles (three at the Australian Open, one at Wimbledon, and one at the US Open), twelve Grand Slam women's doubles titles, winning a calendar-year doubles Grand Slam in 1998, and four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles; for a combined total of twenty-one major titles. In addition, she has won the season-ending WTA Championships two times in singles and three times in doubles.

Hingis set a series of "youngest ever" records, including youngest ever Grand Slam champion and youngest ever world No. 1, before ligament injuries in both ankles forced her to withdraw temporarily from professional tennis in 2002, at the age of 22. She had won 40 singles titles and 36 doubles titles up until that point, and, according to Forbes, had been the highest-paid female athlete in the world for five consecutive years, 1997 to 2001. After several surgeries and long recuperations, Hingis returned to the WTA tour in 2006, climbing to world No. 6 and winning three singles titles, and also receiving the Laureus World Sports Award for Comeback of the Year. She retired in November 2007, following months of injuries and a positive test for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, during the 2007 Wimbledon Championships, which led to a two-year suspension from the sport.