TENNIS.com Podcast: Lisa Raymond reacts to Hall of Fame nomination

Filled with anecdotes and wisdom, Lisa Raymond joins the show to give an update on her coaching and playing career, as well as react to her nomination for the International Tennis Hall of Fame Class of 2021.

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Raymond has been ranked No. 1 in the world in doubles and as high as No. 15 in singles. Though known mostly for her doubles success, she didn't focus only on a doubles-only career until her 30s. She explains how her life has been a collection of mini-careers from when she left the University of Florida in 1993, with a number of highs and lows, including a battle with her fitness.

The 47-year-old has won four WTA singles titles and a whopping 79 in doubles with a variety of partners including Samantha Stosur, Rennae Stubbs, Liezel Huber, Lindsay Davenport and Martina Navratilova. She has hoisted 11 Grand Slam trophies in women's doubles and mixed, and had a bronze medal placed around her neck in 2012.

After playing what she thought was her last match at the 2015 US Open, Raymond made a seamless transition to coaching by joining Madison Keys' team. She prides herself on choosing to stop in her own time, instead of listening to those who felt she should have called it a career much earlier.

"As an athlete you can't tell us when to stop, you can’t," she says. "You can’t because then we’ll always have these regrets and whatnot. But I’m happy that it worked out the way it did and happy that I didn’t listen to those voices."

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In 2019, the American began working with Allie Kiick, and she came out of retirement for an ITF W60 with more on-court appearances looming on the horizon.

"I've got a few goals out there that I still want to possibly achieve," Raymond says. "I've just got to get in a little bit better shape and get my butt out there hitting a little bit more. I’m not totally retired, I guess you could say."

Raymond is nominated for the Hall of Fame ballot alongside Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Sergi Bruguera and Jonas Bjorkman. Fan voting closed with Raymond finishing in second place, and the inductees will be announced in early 2021.

"Still even just thinking about it, it's just so humbling," she says "Just to be among, just even in the same sentence, on the ballot and among the greatest that ever played our game, it's just unreal."

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