The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 202 national tennis associations.

It was established as the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) by 12 national associations meeting at a conference in Paris, France on 1 March 1913. In 1924 it became the officially recognised organisation with authority to control lawn tennis throughout the world, with official 'ILTF Rules of Tennis'. In 1977 it dropped the word 'lawn' from its title, recognising that most tennis was not played on grass.

Originally based in Paris, it moved to Roehampton in south-west London, UK during World War II, where it has remained.

Its official annual is The ITF Year, describing the activities of the ITF over last 12 months. This replaced World of Tennis.

Function

The ITF operates the three major national team competitions in the sport, the Davis Cup for men, the Fed Cup for women and the Hopman Cup, mixed teams. The ITF is also responsible for organizing the four Grand Slams: the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.

While the ATP Tour and WTA Tour control most other high-level professional tournaments, the ITF also organizes the lowest tier tournaments in the world of professional tennis. On the men's side, this is known as the ITF Men's Circuit, consisting of one-week tournaments called "Futures". The ITF also ran four-week satellite tournaments of roughly the same quality level, but they were discontinued after the 2006 season. Virtually every male professional player started by playing on the ITF Men's Circuit.

The ITF is responsible for maintaining an international under-18 junior circuit for boys and girls.

ITF World Champions

Seniors

Year	Men's singles	Women's singles	Men's doubles	Women's doubles
1978	Björn Borg	Chris Evert
1979		Martina Navrátilová
1980		Chris Evert-Lloyd
1981	John McEnroe
1982	Jimmy Connors	Martina Navratilova
1983	John McEnroe
1984
1985	Ivan Lendl
1986
1987		Steffi Graf
1988	Mats Wilander
1989	Boris Becker
1990	Ivan Lendl
1991	Stefan Edberg	Monica Seles
1992	Jim Courier
1993	Pete Sampras	Steffi Graf
1994		Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
1995		Steffi Graf
1996			Todd Woodbridge & Mark Woodforde	Lindsay Davenport & Mary Joe Fernández
1997		Martina Hingis		Lindsay Davenport & Jana Novotná
1998		Lindsay Davenport	Jacco Eltingh & Paul Haarhuis
1999	Andre Agassi	Martina Hingis	Mahesh Bhupathi & Leander Paes	Martina Hingis & Anna Kournikova
2000	Gustavo Kuerten		Todd Woodbridge & Mark Woodforde	Julie Halard-Decugis & Ai Sugiyama
2001	Lleyton Hewitt	Jennifer Capriati	Jonas Björkman & Todd Woodbridge	Lisa Raymond & Rennae Stubbs
2002		Serena Williams	Daniel Nestor & Mark Knowles	Virginia Ruano Pascual & Paola Suarez
2003	Andy Roddick	Justine Henin-Hardenne	Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan
2004	Roger Federer	Anastasia Myskina
2005		Kim Clijsters		Lisa Raymond & Samantha Stosur
2006		Justine Henin-Hardenne

Juniors

Boys' and Girls' singles and doubles Year Singles 1978-2003 Combined ranking 2004+ Doubles 1982-2003 Boys Girls Boys Girls 1978 Ivan Lendl Hana Mandlíková 1979 Raul Viver Mary-Lou Piatek 1980 Thierry Tuslasne Susan Mascarin 1981 Pat Cash Zina Garrison 1982 Guy Forget Gretchen Rush Fernando Perez Beth Herr 1983 Stefan Edberg Pascale Paradis Mark Kratzmann Larisa Savchenko 1984 Mark Kratzmann Gabriela Sabatini Augustin Moreno Mercedes Paz 1985 Claudio Pistolesi Laura Garrone Petr Korda Cyril Suk Mariana Perez-Roldan Patricia Tarabini 1986 Javier Sanchez Patricia Tarabini Tomas Carbonell Leila Meskhi 1987 Jason Stoltenberg Natalia Zvereva Jason Stoltenberg Natalia Medvedeva 1988 Nicolas Pereira Cristina Tessi David Rikl Tomas Zdrazila Jo-Anne Faull 1989 Nicklas Kulti Florencia Labat Wayne Ferreira Andrea Strnadova 1990 Andrea Gaudenzi Karina Habšudová Marten Renström Karina Habšudová 1991 Thomas Enqvist Zdenka Malkova Nancy Feber Karim Alami Eva Martincova 1992 Brian Dunn Rossana De Los Rios Enrique Abaroa Laurence Courtois 1993 Marcelo Ríos Nino Louarsabishvili Steven Downs Cristina Moros 1994 Federico Browne Martina Hingis Benjamin Ellwood Martina Nedelkova 1995 Mariano Zabaleta Anna Kournikova Kepler Orellana Ludmila Varmuzova 1996 Sebastien Grosjean Amelie Mauresmo Sebastien Grosjean Jitka Schonfeldova Michaela Pastikova 1997 Arnaud Di Pasquale Cara Black Nicolás Massú Irina Selyutina Cara Black 1998 Roger Federer Jelena Dokic Jose De Armas Eva Dyrberg 1999 Kristian Pless Lina Krasnoroutskaya Julien Benneteau Nicolas Mahut Daniela Bedanova 2000 Andy Roddick Maria Emilia Salerni Lee Childs James Nelson Maria Emilia Salerni 2001 Gilles Müller Svetlana Kuznetsova Bruno Echagaray Santiago Gonzalez Petra Cetkovska 2002 Richard Gasquet Barbora Strýcová Florin Mergea Horia Tecau Elke Clijsters 2003 Marcos Baghdatis Kirsten Flipkens Scott Oudsema Andrea Hlavackova 2004 Gaël Monfils Michaëlla Krajicek 2005 Donald Young Victoria Azarenka 2006 Thiemo de Bakker Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Source ITF Site

External links

• International Tennis Federation site

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