Lea Pericoli of Italy to be Honored With the 2007 Fed Cup Award of Excellence
September 17, 2007
NEWPORT, RI — The International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) have announced that Italy’s Lea Pericoli is the recipient of the 2007 Fed Cup Award of Excellence. Presentation of the Fed Cup Award of Excellence will be made on Sunday, September 16, during the Fed Cup World Group Final presented by BNP Paribas and contested between Italy and Russia in Moscow, Russia. Presenting the award to Pericoli will be ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti who will be joined by 2003 Hall of Famer Françoise “Frankie” Dürr (the 2005 Fed Cup Award of Excellence recipient) and 1985 Hall of Famer Ann Haydon Jones. Pericoli, Durr and Jones all played in Fed Cup competition in 1963.
“Italy is only one of four nations to have participated in every Fed Cup competition to date,” said ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti. “Lea Pericoli is part of that history and it is our pleasure to honor her with this award.”
Past recipients of the Fed Cup Award of Excellence are Spain’s Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Conchita Martinez in 2001; Great Britain’s Virginia Wade in 2002; Larisa Savchenko-Neiland of Latvia in 2003; Olga Morozova of Russia in 2004; Françoise “Frankie” Dürr of France in 2005; and Sabine Appelmans of Belgium in 2006.
Hall of Fame Class of 2007: Pete Sampras, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Sven Davidson, Russ Adams