World Tennis, known as the International Tennis Federation (ITF) until June 2026, 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 tennis associations. there are 214 national and six regional associations that make up the World Tennis membership.
World Tennis 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. World Tennis partners with the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) to govern professional tennis.
World Tennis organizes annual team competitions for men (Davis Cup), women (Billie Jean King 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 and International Paralympic Committee. World Tennis sanctions circuits that span age ranges (junior, professional men and women, and non-professional players aged 30 and above) as well as disciplines (wheelchair tennis; beach tennis). In addition to these circuits, World Tennis also maintains rankings for juniors, non-professional adults (Masters tour), wheelchair and beach tennis.
History
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 . Originally called the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) it held its inaugural conference at the headquarters of the (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. The 15 founding countries were: Australasia (Australia and New Zealand), Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Canada, Norway, and the United States were also invited but declined to join. 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 'for ever in the English language'. The World Championships were replaced by a new category of Official Championships for the main tournaments in Australia, France, England, and the United States; now known as the four Majors or Grand Slam events. In 1924, the ILTF became the officially recognised organisation 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 World Tennis 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.
In reaction to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, World Tennis cancelled all events in Russia and Belarus. World Tennis also excluded Russia from international team events, which include the Davis Cup, the Billie Jean King Cup, and the ATP Cup, and suspended the Russian Tennis Federation. However, the ATP and the WTA refused to yield to international pressure to ban individual players from competition. Russian players will carry on, but not play under the Russian national flag.
Publications Its official annual is The ITF Year, describing the activities of World Tennis over the 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 three times a year.
Structure National and regional associations
As of 2017, there are 211 national associations affiliated with World Tennis, of which 148 are voting members and 63 are associate members. The criteria for allocating votes (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, or 12) to each voting member are: performance in World Tennis team competitions; professional (ATP/WTA), junior, and wheelchair rankings of individuals; track record in organizing international tournaments; and contribution to World Tennis infrastructure. For example, France garners 12 votes, Canada has 9, Egypt has 5, Pakistan has 3, and Botswana has 1 vote.
Regional associations were created in July 1975 as six "supra-national associations" (Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Australia) with the aim to decrease the gap between the ILTF and the national associations. These evolved into the current regional associations: Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) – 44 members Central American & Caribbean Tennis Confederation (COTECC) – 33 members Confederation of African Tennis (CAT) – 52 members Oceania Tennis Federation (OTF) – 20 members South America Tennis Confederation (COSAT) – 10 members Tennis Europe (TE) – 50 members (Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Tennis Europe suspended from membership both the Russian Tennis Federation and the Belarus Tennis Federation.) World Tennis members with no regional affiliation (Canada and the United States)
Board of directors The World Tennis President and Board of Directors are elected every four years by the national associations. Candidates are nominated by the national associations, and may serve up to twelve years. + Board of Directors (2019–2023) Role Board Member National Association President David Haggerty United States Vice President & Treasurer Rene Stammbach Switzerland Vice President Katrina Adams United States Bernard Giudicelli France Bulat Utemuratov Kazakhstan Board Members Carlos Bravo Costa Rica Martin Corrie Great Britain Jack Graham Canada Nao Kawatei Japan Anil Khanna India Ulrich Klaus Germany Salma Mouelhi Guizani Tunisia Camilo Pérez López Moreira Paraguay Aleksey Selivanenko Russia Stefan Tzvetkov Bulgaria Athlete Board Members Mary Pierce France Mark Woodforde Australia
List of presidents The following people have served as president of World Tennis: # President Start End Country 1 Pierre Gillou 1938 1939 2 Charles Barde 1939 1946 3 Paul de Borman 1946 1947 4 Pierre Gillou (2) 1947 1948 5 James Eaton Griffith 1948 1949 6 Barclay Kingman 1949 1950 7 Roy Youdale 1950 1951 8 David Croll 1951 1952 9 Charles Barde (2) 1952 1953 10 James Eaton Griffith (2) 1953 1954 11 Barclay Kingman (2) 1954 1955 12 Giorgio de Stefani 1955 1956 13 Roy Youdale (2) 1956 1957 14 Robert N. Watt 1957 1958 15 Charles Barde (3) 1958 1959 16 James Eaton Griffith (3) 1959 1960 17 Jean Borotra 1960 1961 18 Roy Youdale (3) 1961 1962 19 Giorgio de Stefani (2) 1962 1963 20 James Eaton Griffith (4) 1963 1965 21 Paulo da Silva Costa 1965 1967 22 Giorgio de Stefani (3) 1967 1969 23 Ben Barnett 1969 1971 24 Allan Heyman 1971 1974 25 Walter Elcock1974 1975 26 Derek Hardwick1975 1977 27 Philippe Chatrier 1977 1991 28 Brian Tobin 1991 1999 29 Francesco Ricci Bitti 1999 2015 30 David Haggerty 2015 current
Governance World Tennis 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, World Tennis guarantees that the official Rules of Tennis "shall be for ever in the English language". A committee within World Tennis 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, World Tennis 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 World Tennis 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 World Tennis-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: World Tennis, 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.
Competitions
Team competitions World Tennis operates the two major annual international team competitions in the sport, the Davis Cup for men and the Billie Jean King Cup for women. It also sanctions the Hopman Cup, an annual mixed-gender team tournament. World Tennis also organizes tennis and wheelchair tennis events every four years at the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games on behalf of the International Olympic Committee.
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup, named after its founder Dwight F. Davis, is an annual team event organized by World Tennis (since 1979 when it replaced the Committee of Davis Cup Nations as event organiser) in men's tennis contested between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. The first Davis Cup took place in 1900, prior to the formation of World Tennis. Since 2019, the tournament has ended with the Davis Cup Finals, an 18-team event (being reduced to 16 effective in 2022) held at a single site in which teams are divided into groups for round-robin pool play. Eight teams advance to the quarterfinals, with all subsequent ties held in a standard knockout format. From 1981 to 2018, the tournament was divided into a 16-nation World Group, and zone groups (Americas; Europe/Africa; and Asia/Oceania) which compete in three or four tiers. Starting in 2019, the Davis Cup introduced a new format for its top level. The World Group was expanded to two levels, World Group I and World Group II, each consisting of 24 teams (reducing to 16 from 2022), with lower levels remaining intact. Each year, successful teams are may be promoted up one level, while unsuccessful teams are relegated down one level. Davis Cup rounds are contested four times per year, scheduled to minimize disruption with the ATP Tour to encourage participation. In each round, a combination of singles and doubles matches are contested to determine the winners. In 2020, 142 nations participated, making it the largest annual international team competition in sport.
Billie Jean King Cup