Woodies, Davidson Inducted Into International Hall Of Fame

Australians Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, known throughout the tennis world as the "Woodies", were both inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, the venue of the Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships at Newport, on Saturday.

“This is an amazing day for the Woodies,” said Woodforde, during the 65-minute ceremony that started in heavy rain.

“I don’t know if any of us said we’re just going to be doubles players. We just excelled on the doubles court a little more than we did on the singles. As much as we would have loved to win more in the singles titles, we did in doubles.”

Together, Woodbridge and Woodforde won 11 major doubles championships and 61 tour-level titles overall from 1991 to 2000. Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan equalled their overall title-record earlier this year.

Watch Video Tribute To The "Woodies"

“I think we won our fourth tournament [sixth event at 1991 Brussels] we played together,” said Woodbridge. “It was close on average to every fourth tournament we won the next 10 years. That’s pretty good business.

“I figured if I could team up with Mark we’d do well together. We did better than well, we did bloody great.”

They had a 508-137 lifetime record. Woodforde retired after the duo won the silver medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Woodbridge, now aged 39, won an Open Era record 83 doubles trophies. He spent 204 weeks at World No. 1 and finished his career with a 782-260 match record. He was a member Australia's Davis Cup winning team in 1999 and 2003. He reached the Wimbledon singles semi-finals in 1997 (l. to Sampras).

Woodforde, 44, captured 67 doubles titles, four singles titles and fived mixed doubles crowns. He was World No 1 for 84 weeks and upon retirement in December 2000 he held the No. 1 individual ranking plus the No. 1 team ranking with Woodbridge. He represented Australia in Davis Cup over a 10-year period, participating in three finals in 1993, 1999-2000.

Another Australian, 65-year-old Owen Davidson, nicknamed “Davo”, was also inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. During a 15-year career he won 12 major doubles titles and is one of just 12 people who have won a personal Grand Slam in tennis history.

Source: ATP.com