International Tennis Hall Of Fame Preserving History

On the third floor of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, away from the public galleries on the second floor of the historic Newport Casino building in Newport, Rhode Island, the wealth of history within the hall resides within six climate-controlled vaults.

Those vaults brim with artifacts, roughly 35,000 items that help this truly American concept of a hall of fame turn into an international destination for a sport that dates to the 1800s.

Located in a historic building that opened in 1880 and still serves as a private tennis club with courts open to the public—the 13 grass courts prove popular, but the site also features six hard courts, a clay court and a “court tennis” court—the site offers one of the most fitting places for the history of the game. The grass courts are arguably the oldest at one site in the world (Wimbledon moved locales in 1922).

As visitors freely wander the historic grounds—the site was also the first home of the United States National Championships, the precursor to the U.S. Open in 1881—or visit the shops on the ground floor of the casino building just like it was in the 1800s, taking a walk up the historic staircase to the second level opens up the museum galleries, which will close in November for a full renovation before reopening in May 2025 with double the exhibit space.

MORE: Gilded Grass: Lawn Tennis Serves Alongside Mansions In Newport

“It is going to be great to see a new hall of fame space,” Nicole Markham, hall of fame curator of collections, tells me. “The hall helps make sense of understanding the history of the sport and the generations, how they all link together, and understanding individual places in that history. In that sense, it is really exciting.”

The historical opportunity to gather artifacts preserving the history of the sport became possible in the early 1950s after Jimmy Van Alen, then-president of the Newport Casino, and his wife, Candy, visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame and decided that having a tennis hall of fame could help preserve the Newport Casino site. It worked and by 1954 the hall of fame was officially sanctioned by the United States Tennis Association. The first inductee was welcomed in 1955, but then the site really grew starting in 1975 with the induction of England’s Fred Perry—a statue of Perry in the Horseshoe resembles the one located at Wimbledon—that helped the site become truly international. It was sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation in 1986.

“I think the hall of fame is an American phenomenon,” Patrick McEnroe, the hall’s president, tells me. “I think our job is to get that message out and as the international players come here and become hall of famers, they get a whole new view of it. This is the ultimate honor in tennis.”

Now with 264 inductees representing 27 countries enshrined in Newport, the hall of fame is more than their story—although it is that too—but also the story of the sport, with the Smithsonian-certified museum filling the second-floor exhibit hall and artifacts bursting through the third-floor vaults.

The vaults hold everything from a vast array of famed fashion designer Ted Tinling’s sketches and dresses, 30 boxes of shoes (including Michael Chang’s Reebok pumps), a model of nearly every racket connected to the upper echelons of the game and even original furniture from the Newport Casino. It isn’t just equipment, though, with 1.5 million still images and 5,000 magazines also in the care of the museum.

Markham says that digital exhibits, of which the hall has increased over the years, helps bring the archives to life even when there isn’t room in the main exhibition space. It also allows people across the world to tap into the hall’s collections.

JT Buzanga, the hall’s collections manager, says that when he started working at the hall he was shocked by the depth of the assembly, including an art collection that includes pieces normally seen only in major museums (the tennis hall has art from the 1500s along with a more contemporary Andy Warhol).

And the artifacts continue to pour in. “We take these things because we don’t want them to be lost forever,” Buzanga says.

There are unique items aplenty, from a didgeridoo Australian Lleyton Hewitt donated after it was gifted to him to a telegram Jackie Robinson sent to Arthur Ashe. It is the mix of deep history tied with modern storytelling that draws roughly 30,000 visitors annually, a number Dan Faber, the hall of fame’s CEO, hopes doubles following the renovation.

The hall’s current exhibits generally split into three main galleries, not counting the USTA wing that serves as home of the perpetual U.S. Open trophies when the year’s fourth major isn’t being contested. The Birth of Tennis section covers up until 1918 while showing the early start of the game, Wimbledon history and how tennis began infusing into pop culture. The Popular Game area runs from 1918 to 1968 and highlights the sport’s growth, featuring fashion to technology to equipment advances. The Open Era section covers to the present and includes a Grand Slam Gallery with key highlights of the four major tournaments in the sport.

In addition, the hall also features an enshrinement gallery paying tribute to each member of the hall of fame.

Buzanga says that fans love the Roger Federer hologram, which is being completely refreshed in the update, and always want to see items from the latest major wins. The hall does its best to oblige, routinely getting kits, shoes or rackets from each winner and putting them on display. At one point recently, the hall featured the dress Coco Gauff wore when winning the U.S. Open, showcased gear from Australian Open winners Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka and had items from recent Carlos Alcaraz championships, all alongside Roger Federer’s shoes and kit from his final match at the Laver Cup.

Expect the growth to only continue, especially as some of the biggest names in the sport soon get added to the induction shrine (players are eligible for the hall of fame five years after retirement).

“This place is so historic,” McEnroe says. “The court, just the vibe. Every time I go through the museum, I see something different I have not really noticed.”