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NEWPORT - Pete Sampras, winner of a record 14 grand slam singles titles, and three-time French Open champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario have been elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Officials announced today the American tennis icon and the Spanish superstar will be inducted to the honour shrine
on July 14 along with Swede Sven Davidson and photographer Russ Adams.
Sampras will play in an exhibition match the following day before the finals of the grass-court ATP Hall of Fame Classic.
The 53-year-old tennis shrine has previously inducted 200 people from 18 nations.
A 75 per cent approval rate in voting by a media panel is required to be inducted.
Sampras was world No.1 for a record 286 weeks, including 102 in a row from April 15, 1996 to March 30, 1998.
He was the year-end world No.1 and ATP Player of the Year for six years in a row starting in 1993.
The all-time ATP leader in career prize money with more than US$43 million ($62.7 million), Sampras finished with a career record of 762-222 that included a 203-38 record in grand slam events.
Sampras won 64 singles titles in his 15-year career, including seven Wimbledon crowns, five US Open titles and two Australian Open titles.
A career grand slam eluded him because the big-serving star could not solve the red clay of Roland Garros, his best French Open effort being a 1996 semi-final.
Sampras, 35, played his final tournament at the 2002 US Open, where he was seeded 17th but won the title.
He made his retirement official at ceremonies in Arthur Ashe Stadium, site of his final match, one year later.
Sanchez-Vicario, 35, won the French Open in 1989, 1994 and 1998 and in 1994 became the first Spanish woman to win the US Open singles crown.
Her other grand slam titles included six in doubles and four in mixed doubles.
She won 29 career singles titles and 67 doubles titles in an 18-year career that ended with a record of 759-295 and held the world No.1 ranking for 12 weeks, taking the top spot in 1995.
Sanchez-Vicario led Spain to five Fed Cup titles, going 72-28 in 58 career ties and captured four Olympic medals -- 1992 bronze and 1996 silver in singles and doubles silver in 1992 and bronze in 1996.
Davidson, 78, won the 1957 French title to become the first Swedish grand slam champion. He reached a career high third in the rankings that same year.
Adams, 76, has spent half a century as a tennis photographer.
- AFP