Jeremy Efferding

Florida's Jeremy Efferding will be one of four 2008 Bill Talbert Junior Sportsmanship Award recipients on Saturday, July 11, prior to the annual Tennis Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony which takes place during the ATP Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, R.I.

Efferding of Lake Worth, Fla., is the only finalist to ever receive the Sportsmanship Award at the USTA Boys' 14 National Hard Court Championships, and has won the last three consecutive Sportsmanship Awards at the National Championships. He received his local district's Evert Academy Most Improved Player of the Year Award in 2005 and 2006.

Efferding is also involved in his community, receiving the 2008 Student Service Volunteer Award in recognition of his weekly service to underprivileged children in Delray Beach, Fla.

Presented annually by the Board of Directors of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, the four recipients were selected from the 17 sectional nominations of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Awards Committee. Each award winner must be a junior player who exemplifies the finest qualities of sportsmanship in tournament play as well as one who maintains the finest traditions of the great sportsmen/women of tennis, past and present.
 
Other recipients are Ryan Lipman of Nashville, Tenn., a nine-time National Tournament Sportsmanship Award winner who will be attending Vanderbilt this fall; Ryan Thacher of Studio City, Calif., the past recipient of The Southern California Tennis Association Evelyn Houseman Junior Sportsmanship Award, the ultimate award that the USTA Southern California Section presents to junior competitors, who is currently attending Stanford; and Gary Wang of Chesterbrook, Penn., who created a tennis program aimed at children ages 6-12 to supplement the curriculum at the Great Wall Chinese School, a non-profit organization offering weekend programs to Chinese children and adults, receiving a USTA Tennis in the Parks grant for his program. Wang will be attending Princeton University in the fall.

The International Tennis Hall of Fame will hold its annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Saturday, July 11, at 12:30 p.m. ET. The Class of 2009 is represented by recent player Monica Seles; master player Andres Gimeno; and contributors Donald L. Dell, and Dr. Robert "Whirlwind" Johnson (posthumously).