Ion Ţiriac included in the International Tennis Hall of Fame

Ion Tiriac (73) was included, among other glories of the white sport, in the International Tennis Hall of Fame for the category contributions to the tennis development through coaching and promoting big tournaments. The event took place Saturday at Newport.

Along Tiriac, there have also been included in the Tennis Hall of Fame during the same ceremony held in Newport, Martina Higins, Thelma Coyne Long, Cliff Drysdale and Charlie Pasarell the American press inform, according to Mediafax.

‘An accomplished champion and brilliant player, Martina Hingis is one of the all-time greats in our sport. Were it not for the vision, dedication, and drive to grow the game that Cliff, Charlie, and Ion have all shared, tennis would not be the established, high profile, exciting sport we all know and love today’, said Christopher Clouser, chairman of the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum

Ion Ţiriac is the second Romanian, following Ilie Năstase, to make it into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

On February 1, Ion Tiriac said, when he learned that he would enter the Hall of Fame, that the distinction was very important because it came from the people who worked in the sport.

"The nomination came late and came early, because they are very careful and very selective in their choices. Consider that in 50 to60 years only 224 individuals were selected. Honestly, I was somewhere in the middle, I was expecting it and I was not expecting this honor. I understand that the International Federation proposed me, because you have to be proposed by someone, and people voted. This is the great merit that you get to be elected by the people in tennis. There were no journalists or staff to vote but the athletes themselves and the people who are involved in this sport, "said Tiriac.

As a tennis player, Ţiriac played 15 years in Romania's Davis Cup team and helped for the qualification in three final games. In 1970, together with Nastase he won the doubles title at Roland Garros.

Tiriac has coached and managed the career of players like Guillermo Villas, Mary Joe Fernandez, Boris Becker and Goran Ivanisevic. Becker won five Grand Slam tournaments during the time he worked with Tiriac.

Other former Romanian athletes included in the Hall of Fame are Iolanda Balas (athletics), Eduard Pană and Doru Tureanu (ice hockey), Nadia Comaneci, Bela Karoly, Ecaterina Szabo, Teodora Ungureanu, Octavian Belu, Silivaş Daniela, Simona Amânar and Lavinia Miloşovici (gymnastics).