TENNIS in DEPTH.

The International Tennis Hall of Fame officially announced this year’s class Monday, and the list is conspicuous with the absence of Bollettieri’s name.

Like him, or not, there is no way Bollettieri should not be in the tennis hall of fame.

This year’s class will include Todd Woodbridge, Mark Woodforde, Gigi Fernandez, Nastasha Zvereva, Owen Davidson, Brad Parks and Derek Hardwick. Nice people I am sure, but you would think there would be a place to squeeze in Bollettieri?

There are now 218 members in the tennis Hall of Fame that began in 1955. Among them are some of the game’s greats. There are also many names not even the most ardent tennis fan would recognize. There are players, coaches, innovators … even media members.

But no Bollettieri? It‘s unbelievable baby!

Bollettieri was up for inclusion in what is called the “Contributor” category. Think tennis, and tell me who has contributed more to the game. Who has had a bigger effect on the game and the way players are developed than Bollettieri and his business model.

“There is no one who has contributed more to the game than Nick Bollettieri, the game would not be where it is today without his incredible enthusiasm, teaching and passion.”

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Led by the pairings of Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, and Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva, doubles specialists dominate the list of nominees for the 2010 class at the International Tennis Hall of Fame

Woodbridge holds the ATP record for most doubles titles in the Open era, with 83, and spent 204 weeks ranked No. 1 in men’s doubles. He and Woodforde— nicknamed “The Woodies”—won 61 titles together, including 11 at Grand Slam tournaments. They were the first team in the 20th century to win five consecutive titles at Wimbledon.

They also won a doubles gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and a silver at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Woodforde was ranked No. 1 in doubles for 84 weeks.

Fernandez and Zvereva won six consecutive Grand Slam doubles titles from 1992-93, only part of their career haul.

The fifth “recent player” category nominee is Anders Jarryd, who completed a career Grand Slam in doubles and finished with 59 total doubles titles with 19 partners.

Other nominees:

— master player category: Owen Davidson, Peter Fleming, Bob Lutz;

— contributor category: Brad Parks, Nick Bollettieri,(the picture is Nick showing 8 year old Anna Kournikova the ropes), Derek Hardwick, Eiichi Kawatei.

The inductees will be announced in January.

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• Brad Gilbert joins nbta.

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