Cerity Partners Hall of Fame Open Kicks Off in Newport

After two days of rain halted play, the Cerity Partners Hall of Fame Open resumed on Wednesday, July 8, at the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The event featured 32 matches across six courts, drawing fans ranging from age nine to ninety. Despite it being a weekday, crowds filled the grounds on one of summer’s warmest days. Spectators migrated throughout the venue, hoping to catch top‑ranked players or tight matchups. The rain delay became a major talking point among attendees, influencing both turnout and anticipation.

Newport resident Mark Thompson gave similar reasons as Siciliano as to why he’s been attending the tournament for five years. “The beautiful scenery,” Thompson said. “Just look around at the green grass, the white clothes and friends. I think the biggest thing is friends. It’s a great place to socialize, see everybody and enjoy the beautiful game of tennis.”

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Thompson mentioned that he will be attending the induction ceremony as well as the two lead-up events.

“I’ll be right there at the center court, watching [Federer] on the screen,” Thompson said. “I’ll be attending the Courting Fashion [presented by Chubb] party at the Marble House Mansion and the exhibition match.”

The Courting Fashion party will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. Aug. 27. The exhibition match is the Hall of Fame Celebrity Pro Classic presented by Fidelity Investments, in which Federer will return to the court once again and face off against legends of the game and celebrities. The exhibition will be held the next day from 2 to 4 p.m.

Thompson shared a personal story on how he got his interest in tennis after being away from the game for 40 years.

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“I hadn’t played tennis for 40 years and my wife was really sick in the house,” Thompson said. “And in order for me to clear my head, I could get out and play tennis on the public courts right near my house. So, it was just a great way for me to clear my head, meet some friends, talk about my problems anonymously and I realized this tennis community is pretty special.”

This is the second year since the ITHF separated the induction ceremony from the Hall of Fame Open, but it was a plan that was years in the making, according to chief operating office and tournament director Brewer Rowe.

“The conversation really started almost four years ago,” Rowe said. “[The tournament] was only an ATP 250, just on the men’s side. We knew we wanted to be able to promote women. We wanted to promote gender equity and the current setup of our tournament did not allow us to do that. “We looked at the opportunities before us and we had the opportunity to bring in the women at the WTA 125 level and change our status on the ATP level to a 125 level. Then that was able to release the induction ceremony to later in the summer, where the spotlight shines bright on Newport again.”

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Another recent change the ITHF made was the addition of Certify Partners as the main sponsor of the tournament. Rowe mentioned that with Certify’s help, the tournament was going to host a Women’s in Sports Day on July 6, but the event was rained out.

The tournament also added new fan events to the fan zone to get more engagement there, and invited youth groups to get more kids engaged with tennis at a young age.

“We have lots of National Junior Tennis and Learning [NJTL] chapters coming here,” Rowe said. “We have hundreds of kids coming here, complimentary, to come experience everything we have.”

Rowe said that there is a possibility that the ITHF will move the tournament to earlier in the summer so as not to compete with the second week of Wimbledon, but the organization is “very comfortable with our week now.”

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Many of the top players at the tournament had yet to play before July 8 due to the weather delays. One of those players was the top seed and No. 40-ranked player in the world Adrian Mannarino from France. He won the singles title in 2023 and is in his 13th year competing in Newport.

Mannarino defeated Remy Bertola from Switzerland in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, to advance to the next round. Mannarino had three aces in the match compared to Bertola’s none and one double fault compared to Bertola’s seven.

“When you know that the tournament is starting on Wednesday because of the weather, you know that you’re going to have to play every day,” Mannarino said. “So it’s always good not to spend too much time on the court, and I’m actually surprised and pretty happy with my performance today. I was returning really well and serving pretty OK. So, hopefully, I keep going this way.”

The Certify Partners Hall of Fame Open will continue throughout the week before concluding on Sunday, July 12.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Tennis fans flock to Newport for Hall of Fame Open