The International Tennis Hall of Fame announced its Class of 2026 nominees Wednesday, with 20-time major champion Roger Federer headlining the player category alongside Juan Martin del Potro and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Journalist Mary Carillo and administrator Marshall Happer are nominees in the contributor category.
Fan voting for the player category opened Wednesday and continues through Oct. 10 at vote.tennisfame.com.
Federer is one of eight men in tennis history to achieve a career Grand Slam in singles. He won his first major title at age 21 at Wimbledon in 2003 and became the first male player to win 20 major singles titles. He held the world No. 1 ranking for a record 237 consecutive weeks and 310 total weeks throughout his career.
The Swiss star finished his career with 103 singles titles, second most in the Open Era, and was voted to receive the ATP’s Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award 13 times. He was also the ATP Fan Favorite for a record 19 consecutive years from 2003 to 2021.
Federer led Switzerland to the Davis Cup title in 2014 and captured Olympic gold in doubles alongside Stan Wawrinka at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Del Potro, of Argentina, is the 2009 U.S. Open men’s singles champion, one of 22 titles captured over his career. He secured his first Grand Slam title with a five-set victory at the 2009 U.S. Open and finished the year as the youngest player in the top 10 ranking.
In 2016, del Potro led Argentina to its first Davis Cup title and earned a silver medal in the Olympic singles competition.
Kuznetsova, of Russia, is a four-time major champion with two titles apiece in singles and doubles. She won singles titles at the 2004 U.S. Open and 2009 French Open, and doubles titles at the 2005 and 2012 Australian Opens.
During her 15-year career, she won 18 WTA singles titles and 16 in doubles and reached career-high rankings of No. 2 in singles and No. 3 in doubles. In nine years representing Russia, Kuznetsova and her teams captured three Billie Jean King Cup titles.
The contributor category is considered for Hall of Fame induction every two years.
Carillo began her broadcasting career in the early 1980s after retiring from the WTA Tour. Starting as an analyst for USA Network, she became the first woman to regularly commentate on tennis, including men’s matches.
Throughout her career, Carillo has covered hundreds of tennis events for major networks including ESPN and NBC, earning multiple awards. She has also covered 16 Olympic Games and served as a correspondent for HBO’s “Real Sports,” earning six Emmy Awards and three Peabody Awards before her induction into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2018.
Happer was a leader in the early years of men’s professional tennis. In 1981, he was hired to develop the first professional administration for the Men’s Tennis Council, the governing body for men’s tennis created in 1974.
During his tenure, Happer modernized and enforced the rules and codes of conduct to prevent player misconduct, created an international certification for officials and hired the first full-time professional officials. He later served as executive director of the USTA for five years.
The top three candidates in the fan vote will receive added percentage points to their vote totals from the official voting group, with first place earning three percentage points, second place two percentage points and third place one percentage point.
To be elected to the Hall of Fame, candidates must receive an affirmative vote of at least 75% from the combined total of the official voting group result and any bonus percentage points earned in the fan vote.
Results from the fan vote will be announced shortly after the voting period. The Class of 2026 inductees and dates for the 2026 induction celebration will be announced later this fall.
For more information, visit tennisfame.com/2026-nominees-announced.
