Out & About
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
A sense of community can be felt almost instantaneously at events built around a true passion of the attendees. At the closing-night gala of the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival two weekends ago, a woman walking out of the Ted Shawn Theater parted from a friend by saying “See you at the Joyce,” and not only her friend, but a dozen or so others in the crowd, nodded.
At the International Tennis Hall of Fame gala on Friday night, the talk of the tables was tennis, from the best moments at the U.S. Open and the Huggy Bear Tournament to the best players at the Meadow Club in Southampton, N.Y., the River Club in Manhattan, the Millbrook Golf and Tennis Club in Millbrook, N.Y., the Tokeneke Club in Darien, Conn., and even the courts in Central Park.
After 26 years at the Waldorf-Astoria, for the first time, the Hall of Fame held its ball at Cipriani 42nd Street. Several tennis players who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, located in Newport, R.I., attended, including Pam Shriver, Stan Smith, Guillermo Vilas, and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario.
“I have great memories of the Hall of Fame: In 1990, I played the Virginia Slims tournament there, and I won. The stands were so crowded. And this summer I was so happy to be inducted together with Pete Sampras. And Newport is beautiful, it reminds me of home,” Ms. Sanchez-Vicario, who is from Barcelona, said.
The Hall of Fame is located at the Newport Casino, the site of the first U.S. National Championships in 1881. It now includes a museum that celebrates the history of tennis and its finest players. Women’s tennis in particular has come a long way since Amy Leeds-Brag, a chairwoman of the gala, first visited the Hall of Fame as a teenager in the 1960s and watched the women’s matches. “We were alone in the stands,” she said.
Andre Agassi received the second annual Eugene L. Scott Award, named after the founder of Tennis Week magazine.
Dr. Geoff Tabin, who played tennis at Yale, was honored for accomplishments off the court: Dr. Tabin’s goal is to eliminate preventable blindness in the developing world in his lifetime. He is the founder of the Himalayan Cataract Project.
