ITF

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national associations, and as of 2016, is affiliated with 211 national tennis associations and six regional associations.

The ITF’s governance responsibilities include maintaining and enforcing the rules of tennis, regulating international team competitions, promoting the game, and preserving the sport’s integrity via anti-doping and anti-corruption programs. The ITF partners with the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) to govern professional tennis.

The ITF organizes the Grand Slam events, annual team competitions for men (Davis Cup), women (Fed Cup), and mixed teams (Hopman Cup), as well as tennis and wheelchair tennis events at the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games on behalf of the International Olympic Committee. The ITF sanctions the Grand Slam tennis tournaments as well as circuits which span age ranges (junior, professional men and women, and seniors) as well as disciplines (wheelchair tennis; beach tennis). In addition to these circuits, the ITF also maintains rankings for juniors, seniors, wheelchair and beach tennis.

Duane Williams, an American who lived in Switzerland, is generally recognized as the initiator and driving force behind the foundation of the International Tennis Federation. He died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Originally called the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) it held its inaugural conference at the headquarters of the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA), in Paris, France on 1 March 1913 which was attended by 12 national associations. Three other countries could not attend but had requested to become a member. Voting rights were divided based on the perceived importance of the individual countries with Great Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) receiving the maximum six votes.

The LTA was given the perpetual right to organize the World Grass Championships which led to a refusal by the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) to join the ILTF as they were of the opinion that this title should be given to the Davis Cup. France received permission to stage the World Hard Court Championships until 1916 and additionally a World Covered Court Championships was founded. The USLTA joined in 1923 on the basis of two compromises: the title ‘World Championships’ would be abolished and wording would be ‘forever in the English language’. The World Championships were replaced by a new category of Official Championships for the main tournaments in Australia, France, Great Britain and the United States; now known as the four Majors or Grand Slam events. In 1924, the ILTF became the officially recognized organization with authority to control lawn tennis throughout the world, with official ILTF Rules of Tennis.

In 1939 the ILTF had 59 member nations. Its funds were moved to London, England during World War II and from that time onward the ITF has been run from there. It was based at Wimbledon until 1987, when it moved to Barons Court, next door to Queen’s Club. It then moved again in 1998 to the Bank of England Sports Ground, Roehampton, its current base of operations.

In 1977 the word ‘Lawn’ was dropped from the name of the organization, in recognition of the fact that most tennis events were no longer played on grass.

Its official annual is The ITF Year, describing the activities of the ITF over last 12 months. This replaced World of Tennis, which was the ITF official annual from 1981 through 2001. In addition it publishes an official magazine ITFWorld three times a year.

The ITF is the world governing body for the sport of tennis. Its governance includes the following responsibilities: make, amend, and enforce the Rules of Tennis; regulate international team competitions; promote the game of tennis; and preserve the integrity of tennis.

By its own constitution, the ITF guarantees that the official Rules of Tennis “shall be forever in the English language”. A committee within the ITF periodically makes rule amendment recommendations to the Board of Directors. The Rules of Tennis encompass the manner of play and scoring, in-game coaching, and the technical specifications of equipment (e.g. ball, racket, net, court) and other technology (e.g. player analysis technology). The Rules cover tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis.

Through the Tennis Anti-Doping Program, the ITF implements the World Anti-Doping Code (from the World Anti-Doping Agency, or WADA) for tennis. National associations must implement the code within its national jurisdiction, report violations up to the ITF and WADA, and report annually about all testing conducted. The Tennis Anti-Doping Program began in 1993, and applies to all players who play in ITF-sanctioned competitions, as well as tournaments on the ATP Tour and WTA Tour. In 2015, 2514 samples were collected from men and 1919 samples were collected from women; 2256 samples were collected during tennis tournaments (“in-competition”) and 2177 were collected at other times (“out-of-competition”).

The Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) is a joint initiative of the primary governing bodies in tennis: the ITF, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), and the Grand Slam Board. Formed in 2008 in response to betting-related corruption challenges, the TIU’s mandate is to protect tennis from “all forms of betting-related corrupt practices”. As with the anti-doping efforts, national associations are charged with the responsibility of enforcing a code of conduct and reporting any violations.

The ITF operates the two major annual international team competitions in the sport, the Davis Cup for men, the Fed Cup for women. It also sanctions the Hopman Cup, an annual mixed-gender team tournament. The ITF also organizes tennis and wheelchair tennis events every four years at the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games on behalf of the International Olympic Committee.

The ITF sanctions the Grand Slam tennis tournaments as well as circuits which span age ranges (junior, professional, and seniors) as well as disciplines (wheelchair tennis; beach tennis). In addition to these circuits, the ITF also maintains rankings for juniors, seniors, wheelchair, and beach tennis.