Hall of Fame 2027: Barty yes, Serena no

Ashleigh Barty leads the list of candidates for the International Tennis Hall of Fame class of 2027. In the players category the Australian is joined by Juan Martín del Potro and Svetlana Kuznetsova, who were already on the ballot last year. Serena Williams is not on it, and the Hall of Fame's official announcement does not name her.

Hall of Fame rules make a player eligible five years after they stopped being a significant factor on the ATP or WTA tour. This year Williams returned in doubles at Queen's with Victoria Mboko and, at Wimbledon, with a wild card, played her first singles match in almost four years: Maya Joint won 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 on Centre Court in the first round. According to Yahoo News Australia, it is precisely this comeback that makes her ineligible for 2027.

Barty won three Grand Slam singles titles (Roland Garros 2019, Wimbledon 2021, Australian Open 2022) and the 2018 US Open in doubles, and remained world number one for 121 weeks, 114 of them consecutive. Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion, and Kuznetsova, with two Grand Slam singles titles and two doubles titles at the Australian Open, try again after a 2026 in which voters elected only Roger Federer among the players. In the wheelchair category, which the Hall of Fame considers once every four years, the candidate is Shingo Kunieda, with 50 Grand Slam titles across singles and doubles and 582 weeks as world number one.

Fan voting remains open until 25 October. The top three finishers receive a bonus of three, two and one percentage points, added to the votes of the official group of journalists, historians and Hall of Fame members. Induction requires 75%. The class of 2027 will be announced later in the fall.