A Hall of Fame Ring for Gigi Fernandez at USTA Meeting

Hall of Famer Gigi Fernandez was recently honored with a special presentation of her Hall of Fame ring at the USTA Annual Meeting hosted in Austin, Texas on March 24. 

Fernandez was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2010, in recognition of a remarkable career highlighted by 17 major titles, 2 Olympic Gold Medals, and reaching the world No. 1 ranking in doubles. 

The Hall of Fame has a tradition of presenting Hall of Famers with an official ring to commemorate the honor. Rings are not generally presented at the induction ceremony, rather, it is saved and presented at a place of particular meaning to the Hall of Famer and their fans.

Fernandez, who has stayed highly active in the sport since retiring from her playing career, specifically requested the ring be presented at the USTA Annual Meeting, which draws a crowd of well over 3,000 community tennis leaders from across the nation. 

In her post playing career, Fernandez has made a concerted effort to share her knowledge and passion with tennis players and tennis teachers. She has been involved in volunteer board service for the USTA and the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and has embraced roles to grow participation in tennis across all sorts of age, gender, and ethnic backgrounds. She has served as a tennis director at the club level and has held coaching roles for high school teams, college teams, and WTA players. Additionally, Fernandez has developed several innovative new programs for teaching tennis to kids and adults. Most recently, she has connected with a national network of individual club players by delivering useful doubles strategy tips via online training tools and in person clinics. In this new work, Fernandez says she has embraced the sport from an entirely different perspective. 

As a result, in addition to receiving her ring, Fernandez was also honored with the Tennis Educational Merit Award at the meeting, recognizing notable contributions by those who have demonstrated leadership in tennis education in such areas as instruction, writing, organization, and promotion of the game of tennis.

"I really wanted to receive this ring here, because you all are the reason that I am back in tennis and that have really rediscovered my passion for the sport. Thank you," commented Fernandez to a standing ovation audience of thousands of tennis providers and community leaders.