For Work on Grass, Becker Enshrined

He made his name on a patch of grass at Wimbledon called Centre Court, and Saturday he showed up on another tract of hallowed tennis greensward to see that name elevated among the game’s immortals.

“I never knew about this place as a kid, but now I’m very honored to be here, to be part of this,” Boris Becker told the full-house crowd of 3,794 at The Casino -- the cradle of American tennis -- during his induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Also inducted were Nancy Richey and Francoise Durr, among the top women players in the 1960s and ‘70s, and Brian Tobin, honored for his contributions to the game.

Becker, at 35, is the second-youngest person (to Bjorn Borg at 31) to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, which is located in a clock tower building amid 11 grass courts in the world’s oldest tennis complex. Dating to 1880, The Casino was the site of the first U.S. Open Championships in 1881.

It was on grass courts of Wimbledon that Becker, with a crowd-pleasing belly-flopping style that would become his trademark, first rose to stardom.

As a virtually unknown, and unseeded, 17-year-old in 1985, the bullish, assault-minded German blasted an improbable path through the Wimbledon draw to become the aged tournament’s youngest winner. He also won the tournament in 1986 and 1989.

“Winning again in 1986 may have been my best achievement,” Becker said. “After 1985, it was all so new -- the attention, the publicity. I was in a year of not knowing who I was or where I was. But I was able to beat [No. 1-ranked Ivan] Lendl in the final.

“I proved that I belonged in that league with the big guys, and wasn’t a one-time champion.”

Becker sailed through periods when he seemingly could do no wrong, and gritted his teeth through those when he seemingly could do no right, creating headlines either way.

He won three other major titles (the U.S. Open in 1989 and the Australian Open in 1991 and 1996), but also had to weather tax problems for years and pay up heavily in a paternity suit.

“It was hard, but I learned I wasn’t the only one with problems,” Becker said. “You go beyond them.”

Durr, 60, won the French Open singles title in 1967 and 11 other major championships in doubles. Durr, from France, was quick and combative on the court, with a deceptive, distinctive game that included unusual grips and shots that set her apart.

Richey, 60, won six major titles, including singles in the 1967 Australian Open and 1968 French Open.

Richey, from San Angelo, Texas, hit the ball so hard with a wooden racket that she would have been regarded as a terror with the high-tech equipment of today.

Durr and Richey were also members of the first professional women’s tour, along with Hall of Famers Billie Jean King, Rosie Casals and Ann Jones.

“We were the ‘Long Way Babies’ of the first women’s tour,” Durr said. “When the Virginia Slims tour began in 1971 we all helped with the promotion. I remember Detroit and standing outside of a department store trying to give away tickets to our tournament. We couldn’t give them away. But things changed, as you know.”

Tobin, 72, was president of Tennis Australia from 1983 to 1989 and the International Tennis Federation from 1991 to 1999.