By Field Level Media
Oct 19 (Field Level Media) - Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open men's singles champion, heads the list of player nominees for the 2027 International Tennis Hall of Fame class.
del Potro, of Argentina, was joined on the ballot by former WTA stars Ash Barty of Australia and Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, the Hall announced Monday.
del Potro won 22 times on the ATP Tour, with his most notable triumph coming 17 years ago in Flushing Meadows. He took down Rafael Nadal in the semifinals
and then Roger Federer in the final for his lone Grand Slam title. Against Federer, del Potro rallied from two sets to one down to dethrone the five-time defending champion.
The Argentine experienced international glory in 2016 when he led his country to its first Davis Cup championship. He also earned a silver medal in singles at the Rio Olympics that year.
Barty won three majors and stood atop the WTA rankings for 121 weeks in her career. She won the French Open women's singles title in 2019, the Wimbledon singles title in 2021 and the Australian Open women's title in 2022. Her international resume included a bronze medal in mixed doubles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Kuznetsova won two majors each in singles (2004 U.S. Open, 2009 French Open) and doubles (2005 and 2012 Australian Open). She won 18 singles titles and 16 doubles titles on tour. She was ranked as high as No. 2 in singles and No. 3 in doubles.
Fans can vote on the nominees through Oct. 25. The results will be applied as bonus points to the voting percentages produced by the Hall's Official Voting Group, a panel composed of tennis journalists, historians and Hall of Famers. A candidate must receive at least 75 percent of the combined vote from the fans and Official Voting Group for induction.
(--Field Level Media)
