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Three former WTA World No.1 players, in singles and doubles, are nominated for induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame next year. Fan voting is open through October 9th.
Three WTA stars are nominated for next year’s induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, with Cara Black, Ana Ivanovic and Flavia Pennetta on the Class of 2024 ballot.
And all tennis lovers can have a say in who gets into the Hall of Fame — fan voting at vote.tennisfame.com, running now through October 9, will help determine who gets inducted in Newport, Rhode Island next summer.
The top three players in the Fan Vote will have percentage points added to their totals from the Official Voting Group.
Three ATP players make up the other half of the ballot: Carlos Moya, Daniel Nestor, and Leander Paes.
Here is a breakdown of the three WTA candidates:
Cara Black
Cara Black spent 163 weeks ranked WTA Doubles World No.1, 145 of those consecutively.
The Zimbabwean won 60 doubles titles on the Hologic WTA Tour during her 17-year professional career.
Black won five Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles, three coming at Wimbledon between 2004 and 2007.
She also completed the Career Grand Slam in mixed doubles, having won each of the majors at least once. She captured five Grand Slam mixed doubles titles in total.
Black was also a former junior Grand Slam champion, winning the Junior Wimbledon and US Open singles titles in 1997, along with three junior doubles majors.
She also won one WTA singles title and reached No.31 in the singles rankings before retiring in 2015.
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanovic ascended to the World No.1 ranking in singles for the first time on June 9, 2008, becoming the first player representing Serbia to reach the top of the rankings. She spent a total of 12 weeks ranked World No.1.
Ivanovic’s rise to No.1 was accompanied by her Grand Slam title at the 2008 Roland Garros. Overall, Ivanovic won 15 singles titles on the Hologic WTA Tour, including three Tier I events (now known as WTA 1000 events).
Ivanovic reached two other Grand Slam finals at the 2007 Roland Garros and the 2008 Australian Open, finishing each of those years ranked inside the Top 5.
She returned to the Top 5 with a resurgence in 2014, before retiring in 2016.
Flavia Pennetta
Flavia Pennetta won her Grand Slam singles title at the 2015 US Open, defeating her friend Roberta Vinci in an all-Italian final and becoming just the second Italian woman to claim a major singles title.
In 2009, Pennetta became the first Italian woman to crack the Top 10 of the WTA singles rankings.
Overall, Pennetta finished her career with 11 Hologic WTA Tour singles titles and peaked at a career-high ranking of No.6.
Pennetta also spent 18 weeks ranked WTA Doubles World No.1. She won 17 doubles titles in her career, including the 2010 WTA Finals and the 2011 Australian Open, both alongside Gisela Dulko.
Pennetta famously announced she would retire at the end of the 2015 season as she accepted her US Open championship trophy, which she did after that year’s WTA Finals. — wtatennis.com
