ITF World Champions
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) designates a World Champion each year based on performances throughout the year, emphasising the Grand Slam tournaments,[1] and also considering team events such as the Davis Cup and Fed Cup.[2] Men's and women's singles champions were first named in 1978; the title is now also awarded for doubles, wheelchair, and junior players.[3] It is sometimes named the "ITF Player of the Year" award, alluding to similar other year-end awards in tennis.[4]
Rules and procedures
The ITF's constitution states that no tennis tournament can be designated the "World Championships" without unanimous consent of the ITF Council.[5] There is currently no such tournament. The constitution also states:[6]
- The ITF may award the title of World Champion to players who, in the opinion of the Board of Directors, are the most outstanding players in any one-year. The names of players who have been awarded this title shall be listed in the Roll of Honour.
It also states:[1]
- Official Tennis Championships [i.e. the Grand Slam events] shall be the decisive factor in the determination of the ITF World Champions for each year.
For singles, ITF appoints a panel of former top players at the start of the season, which votes on the champion at the end of the season.
The boys' and girls' singles and doubles titles prior to 2003 were awarded based on world ranking. Since then singles and doubles rankings have been combined in a single award each for boys and for girls.[7]
The world champion accolade has been extended by the ITF to wheelchair tennis players of the Men's and Women's division since 1991. In November 2017, the ITF announced that the quad wheelchair tennis division is to be recognised in its annual list of ITF World Champions.[8]
In 1996, the Philippe Chatrier Award was introduced, honouring individuals or organisations who have made outstanding contributions to tennis globally, both on and off the court. The award is considered to be the ITF's highest accolade and is named after the former French tennis player Philippe Chatrier, who was President of the governing body between 1977-1991.[9]
The ITF World Champions' Dinner takes place in Paris during the French Open, to honour the previous year's champions,[10] who are presented with a trophy, but not any monetary prize.[11]
Men's singles
The first men's panel in 1978 had three members, Don Budge, Fred Perry, and Lew Hoad,[11][12] who attended the season's Grand Slam events at ITF expense to inform their choice.[13] The 1983 panel split two to one between John McEnroe (votes of Budge and Perry) and Mats Wilander (vote of Hoad).[14] The 1984 panel had five members,[15] while the 1985 panel had four: Budge, Perry, Hoad, and Tony Trabert.[16] When Ivan Lendl was chosen as champion for 1985, the panel's announcement was accompanied with a rebuke for Lendl's criticism of some tournaments and his refusal to play in the Davis Cup.[16] Perry and Trabert were on the 1986 panel, with performances outside the Grand Slams taken into consideration.[17]
The 1990 designation of Lendl as champion was a surprise.[18] That year, the Association of Tennis Professionals named Stefan Edberg its "Player of The Year", in accordance with the ATP Rankings, while Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Edberg first, Andre Agassi second, and Lendl third.[19] Tennis also suggested the ITF was punishing Edberg for denigrating the Grand Slam Cup tournament it had introduced.[19] The ITF panel, of Perry, Trabert, and Frank Sedgman, called it "the toughest decision any of us can remember having to make", and stated it was Lendl's better average performance in the Grand Slams that made the difference.[18]
The choice to award Djokovic the ITF World Champion of 2013 over Nadal was unexpected. Nadal finished the year ranked #1 and with more slams (2 to 1), more Masters titles (5 to 3), and more tournament titles (10 to 7). Similar to the situation with Edberg in 1990, the ITF cited Nadal's failure to win a match at 2 of the 4 slams (DNP the Australian Open, 1st round loss at Wimbledon) to justify their decision and Djokovic’s consistent results across all four Slams (1 title, 2 runner-ups, 1 SF), Davis Cup (led Serbia to final, won 7/7 singles rubbers) and the ATP World Tour Finals (won title).[20]
Other instances when the ITF choices differed from the ATP rankings are 1978 (Jimmy Connors), 1982 (McEnroe), 1989 (Lendl). None of these, however, were controversial and were generally agreed upon, with the 1978 and 1982 choices being particularly clear cut in favor of Borg (1978) and Connors (1982).
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Women's singles
The women's panel initially featured three former women's champions, Margaret Court, Margaret duPont and Ann Jones.[21][11][12] Althea Gibson was a member through the early 1980s.[22]
ITF world champions for women differed from the WTA year-end rankings the following years: 1978 (Martina Navratilova), 1994 (Steffi Graf), 2001 (Lindsay Davenport), 2004 (Lindsay Davenport), 2005 (Lindsay Davenport), 2011 (Caroline Wozniacki), 2012 (Victoria Azarenka), 2017 (Simona Halep).
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Men's doubles
| Year | Player | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Todd Woodbridge & Mark Woodforde | .svg.png){kind=small} |
| 1997 | Todd Woodbridge (2) & Mark Woodforde (2) | |
| 1998 | Jacco Eltingh & Paul Haarhuis |  |
| 1999 | Mahesh Bhupathi & Leander Paes |  |
| 2000 | Todd Woodbridge (3) & Mark Woodforde (3) | |
| 2001 | Jonas Björkman & Todd Woodbridge (4) |  |
| 2002 | Mark Knowles & Daniel Nestor |  .svg.png){kind=small} |
| 2003 | Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan |  |
| 2004 | Bob Bryan (2) & Mike Bryan (2) | |
| 2005 | Bob Bryan (3) & Mike Bryan (3) | |
| 2006 | Bob Bryan (4) & Mike Bryan (4) | |
| 2007 | Bob Bryan (5) & Mike Bryan (5) | |
| 2008 | Daniel Nestor (2) & Nenad Zimonjić |  |
| 2009 | Bob Bryan (6) & Mike Bryan (6) | |
| 2010 | Bob Bryan (7) & Mike Bryan (7) | |
| 2011 | Bob Bryan (8) & Mike Bryan (8) | |
| 2012 | Bob Bryan (9) & Mike Bryan (9) | |
| 2013 | Bob Bryan (10) & Mike Bryan (10) | |
| 2014 | Bob Bryan (11) & Mike Bryan (11) | |
| 2015 | Jean-Julien Rojer & Horia Tecău |  |
| 2016 | Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares |   |
| 2017 | Łukasz Kubot & Marcelo Melo |  |
| 2018 | Mike Bryan (12) & Jack Sock | |
| 2019 | Juan Sebastián Cabal & Robert Farah |  |
Women's doubles
| Year | Player | Nationality |
| 1996 | Lindsay Davenport & Mary Joe Fernández | |
| 1997 | Lindsay Davenport (2) & Jana Novotná |  |
| 1998 | Lindsay Davenport (3) & Natasha Zvereva |  |
| 1999 | Martina Hingis & Anna Kournikova |   |
| 2000 | Julie Halard-Decugis & Ai Sugiyama |   |
| 2001 | Lisa Raymond & Rennae Stubbs | |
| 2002 | Virginia Ruano Pascual & Paola Suárez |   |
| 2003 | Virginia Ruano Pascual (2) & Paola Suárez (2) | |
| 2004 | Virginia Ruano Pascual (3) & Paola Suárez (3) | |
| 2005 | Lisa Raymond (2) & Samantha Stosur | |
| 2006 | Lisa Raymond (3) & Samantha Stosur (2) | |
| 2007 | Cara Black & Liezel Huber |  |
| 2008 | Cara Black (2) & Liezel Huber (2) | |
| 2009 | Serena Williams & Venus Williams | |
| 2010 | Gisela Dulko & Flavia Pennetta |  |
| 2011 | Květa Peschke & Katarina Srebotnik |  |
| 2012 | Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci | |
| 2013 | Sara Errani (2) & Roberta Vinci (2) | |
| 2014 | Sara Errani (3) & Roberta Vinci (3) | |
| 2015 | Martina Hingis (2) & Sania Mirza | |
| 2016 | Caroline Garcia & Kristina Mladenovic | |
| 2017 | Martina Hingis (3) & Chan Yung-jan |  |
| 2018 | Barbora Krejčíková & Kateřina Siniaková | |
| 2019 | Tímea Babos & Kristina Mladenovic (2) |  |
Boys
Boys' singles (1978–2003)
| Year | Player | Nationality |
| 1978 | Ivan Lendl | |
| 1979 | Raúl Viver |  |
| 1980 | Thierry Tulasne | |
| 1981 | Pat Cash | |
| 1982 | Guy Forget | |
| 1983 | Stefan Edberg | |
| 1984 | Mark Kratzmann | |
| 1985 | Claudio Pistolesi | |
| 1986 | Javier Sánchez | |
| 1987 | Jason Stoltenberg | |
| 1988 | Nicolás Pereira |  |
| 1989 | Nicklas Kulti | |
| 1990 | Andrea Gaudenzi | |
| 1991 | Thomas Enqvist | |
| 1992 | Brian Dunn | |
| 1993 | Marcelo Ríos |  |
| 1994 | Federico Browne | |
| 1995 | Mariano Zabaleta | |
| 1996 | Sébastien Grosjean | |
| 1997 | Arnaud Di Pasquale | |
| 1998 | Roger Federer | |
| 1999 | Kristian Pless |  |
| 2000 | Andy Roddick | |
| 2001 | Gilles Müller |  |
| 2002 | Richard Gasquet | |
| 2003 | Marcos Baghdatis |  |
Boys' doubles (1982–2003)
| Year | Player | Nationality |
| 1982 | Fernando Pérez Pascal |  |
| 1983 | Mark Kratzmann | |
| 1984 | Agustín Moreno | |
| 1985 | Petr Korda & Cyril Suk | |
| 1986 | Tomás Carbonell | |
| 1987 | Jason Stoltenberg | |
| 1988 | David Rikl & Tomáš Anzari | |
| 1989 | Wayne Ferreira | .svg.png){kind=small} |
| 1990 | Mårten Renström | |
| 1991 | Karim Alami |  |
| 1992 | Enrique Abaroa | |
| 1993 | Steven Downs |  |
| 1994 | Benjamin Ellwood | |
| 1995 | Kepler Orellana | |
| 1996 | Sébastien Grosjean | |
| 1997 | Nicolás Massú | |
| 1998 | José de Armas | |
| 1999 | Julien Benneteau & Nicolas Mahut | |
| 2000 | Lee Childs & James Nelson | |
| 2001 | Bruno Echagaray & Santiago González | |
| 2002 | Florin Mergea & Horia Tecău | |
| 2003 | Scott Oudsema | |
Boys' combined (from 2004)
| Year | Player | Nationality |
| 2004 | Gaël Monfils | |
| 2005 | Donald Young | |
| 2006 | Thiemo de Bakker | |
| 2007 | Ričardas Berankis |  |
| 2008 | Yang Tsung-hua | |
| 2009 | Daniel Berta | |
| 2010 | Juan Sebastián Gómez | |
| 2011 | Jiří Veselý | |
| 2012 | Filip Peliwo | |
| 2013 | Alexander Zverev |  |
| 2014 | Andrey Rublev | |
| 2015 | Taylor Fritz | |
| 2016 | Miomir Kecmanović | |
| 2017 | Axel Geller | |
| 2018 | Tseng Chun-hsin | |
| 2019 | Thiago Agustin Tirante | |
Girls
Girls' singles (1978–2003)
| Year | Player | Nationality |
| 1978 | Hana Mandlíková | |
| 1979 | Mary-Lou Piatek | |
| 1980 | Susan Mascarin | |
| 1981 | Zina Garrison | |
| 1982 | Gretchen Rush | |
| 1983 | Pascale Paradis | |
| 1984 | Gabriela Sabatini | |
| 1985 | Laura Garrone | |
| 1986 | Patricia Tarabini | |
| 1987 | Natasha Zvereva |  |
| 1988 | Cristina Tessi | |
| 1989 | Florencia Labat | |
| 1990 | Karina Habšudová | |
| 1991 | Zdeňka Málková | |
| 1992 | Rossana de los Ríos |  |
| 1993 | Nino Louarsabishvili | .svg.png){kind=small} |
| 1994 | Martina Hingis | |
| 1995 | Anna Kournikova | |
| 1996 | Amélie Mauresmo | |
| 1997 | Cara Black | |
| 1998 | Jelena Dokić | |
| 1999 | Lina Krasnoroutskaya | |
| 2000 | María Emilia Salerni | |
| 2001 | Svetlana Kuznetsova | |
| 2002 | Barbora Strýcová | |
| 2003 | Kirsten Flipkens | .svg.png){kind=small} |
Girls' doubles (1982–2003)
| Year | Player | Nationality |
| 1982 | Beth Herr | |
| 1983 | Larisa Savchenko | |
| 1984 | Mercedes Paz | |
| 1985 | Mariana Perez-Roldan & Patricia Tarabini | |
| 1986 | Leila Meskhi | |
| 1987 | Natalia Medvedeva | |
| 1988 | Jo-Anne Faull | |
| 1989 | Andrea Strnadová | |
| 1990 | Karina Habšudová | |
| 1991 | Eva Martincová | |
| 1992 | Nancy Feber & Laurence Courtois | |
| 1993 | Cristina Moros | |
| 1994 | Martina Nedelkova |  |
| 1995 | Ludmila Varmuzova | |
| 1996 | Jitka Schönfeldová & Michaela Paštiková | |
| 1997 | Irina Selyutina & Cara Black |  |
| 1998 | Eva Dyrberg | |
| 1999 | Daniela Bedáňová | |
| 2000 | María Emilia Salerni | |
| 2001 | Petra Cetkovská | |
| 2002 | Elke Clijsters | |
| 2003 | Andrea Hlaváčková | |
Girls' combined (from 2004)
| Year | Player | Nationality |
| 2004 | Michaëlla Krajicek | |
| 2005 | Victoria Azarenka | |
| 2006 | Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova | |
| 2007 | Urszula Radwańska | |
| 2008 | Noppawan Lertcheewakarn |  |
| 2009 | Kristina Mladenovic | |
| 2010 | Daria Gavrilova | |
| 2011 | Irina Khromacheva | |
| 2012 | Taylor Townsend | |
| 2013 | Belinda Bencic | |
| 2014 | Catherine "CiCi" Bellis | |
| 2015 | Dalma Gálfi | |
| 2016 | Anastasia Potapova | |
| 2017 | Whitney Osuigwe | |
| 2018 | Clara Burel | |
| 2019 | Diane Parry | |
Men's wheelchair
| Year | Player | Nationality |
| 1991 | Randy Snow | |
| 1992 | Laurent Giammartini | |
| 1993 | Kai Schrameyer | |
| 1994 | Laurent Giammartini (2) | |
| 1995 | David Hall | |
| 1996 | Ricky Molier | |
| 1997 | Ricky Molier (2) | |
| 1998 | David Hall (2) | |
| 1999 | Stephen Welch | |
| 2000 | David Hall (3) | |
| 2001 | Ricky Molier (3) | |
| 2002 | David Hall (4) | |
| 2003 | David Hall (5) | |
| 2004 | David Hall (6) | |
| 2005 | Michaël Jeremiasz | |
| 2006 | Robin Ammerlaan | |
| 2007 | Shingo Kunieda | |
| 2008 | Shingo Kunieda (2) | |
| 2009 | Shingo Kunieda (3) | |
| 2010 | Shingo Kunieda (4) | |
| 2011 | Maikel Scheffers | |
| 2012 | Stéphane Houdet | |
| 2013 | Shingo Kunieda (5) | |
| 2014 | Shingo Kunieda (6) | |
| 2015 | Shingo Kunieda (7) | |
| 2016 | Gordon Reid | |
| 2017 | Gustavo Fernández | |
| 2018 | Shingo Kunieda (8) | |
| 2019 | Gustavo Fernández (2) | |
Women's wheelchair
| Year | Player | Nationality |
| 1991 | Chantal Vandierendonck | |
| 1992 | Monique Van Den Bosch | |
| 1993 | Monique Kalkman (2) | |
| 1994 | Monique Kalkman (3) | |
| 1995 | Monique Kalkman (4) | |
| 1996 | Chantal Vandierendonck (2) | |
| 1997 | Chantal Vandierendonck (3) | |
| 1998 | Daniela Di Toro | |
| 1999 | Daniela Di Toro (2) | |
| 2000 | Esther Vergeer | |
| 2001 | Esther Vergeer (2) | |
| 2002 | Esther Vergeer (3) | |
| 2003 | Esther Vergeer (4) | |
| 2004 | Esther Vergeer (5) | |
| 2005 | Esther Vergeer (6) | |
| 2006 | Esther Vergeer (7) | |
| 2007 | Esther Vergeer (8) | |
| 2008 | Esther Vergeer (9) | |
| 2009 | Esther Vergeer (10) | |
| 2010 | Esther Vergeer (11) | |
| 2011 | Esther Vergeer (12) | |
| 2012 | Esther Vergeer (13) | |
| 2013 | Aniek van Koot | |
| 2014 | Yui Kamiji | |
| 2015 | Jiske Griffioen | |
| 2016 | Jiske Griffioen (2) | |
| 2017 | Yui Kamiji (2) | |
| 2018 | Diede de Groot | |
| 2019 | Diede de Groot (2) | |
Quad's wheelchair
| Year | Player | Nationality |
| 2017 | David Wagner | |
| 2018 | Dylan Alcott | |
| 2019 | Dylan Alcott (2) | |
See also
- International Tennis Federation
- Philippe Chatrier Award
- ATP World Tour Awards
- WTA Awards
- World number one male tennis player rankings
- World number one female tennis player rankings
- Tennis statistics
References
- ITF Constitution
- Fecci, Vicki (6 January 2010). "Memorandum, Articles of Association and Bye-laws of ITF LIMITED; Trading as the International Tennis Federation" (PDF). Nassau, Bahamas: ITF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
Footnotes
- ITF Constitution, p.26, Rule 2.2(a)(iii)
- "ITF opt for Hewitt and Capriati". BBC Online. 2 December 2001. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
- ITF Constitution, p.53 Appendix E
- "Rafael Nadal, Garbine Muguruza win ITF Player of the Year awards". ESPN.com. 2017-12-08. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
- ITF Constitution, p.29: Article 29(a)
- ITF Constitution, p.38 Regulation 3.1
- ITF Constitution, Appendix E, pp.53, 60
- http://www.itftennis.com/276840?channel=itfwheelchairtennisnews
- Gillen, Nancy (1 April 2020). "Santana and Stolle receive ITF Philippe Chatrier Award". Inside the Games. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
- "World Champions Dinner". ITF. 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
- "Borg: Sitting on top of the World". Evening Independent. St. Petersburg, Florida. Associated Press. 17 January 1979. p. 11C. Retrieved 20 December 2013 – via Google News Archive.
- Joe Jares (February 13, 1978). "Champion by committee". Sports Illustrated. Vol. 48 no. 8. p. 11.
- "Wind, Herbert Warren (15 February 1978). "The Sports Scene: Budge and the Grand Slam". The New Yorker. 63: 76.
- UPI (17 January 1984). "McEnroe tapped as world's best". The Bulletin. Bend, Oregon. p. D-1. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
- "McEnroe crowned World Champ by tennis panel". Gainesville Sun. Google News Archive. 17 January 1985. p. 3E. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
- Fogarty, Mark (21 January 1986). "All the awards, plus a rebuke". The Age. p. 48. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
- "It's official: Lendl best in world". Boca Raton News. Google News Archive. 11 December 1986. p. 4D. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
- "Lendl, not Edberg, named tennis world champion". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Google News Archive. Associated Press. 18 December 1990. p. 1C. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
- Tennis (in French). France (179). February 1991.
On' a choisi de sanctionner un champion qui n'avait pas craint d'avouer publiquement le peu d'importance qu'il accordait à la Coupe du Grand Chelem, la fameuse invention de la FIT pour 'casser' l'ATP Tour. (It was decided to punish a champion who was not afraid to admit publicly how little he thought of the Grand Slam Cup, the famous ITF invention to 'break' the ATP Tour)
Missing or empty|title=(help) - "Williams and Djokovic named 2013 ITF World Champion". ITF. 18 December 2013.
- Ron Rosen (January 17, 1978). "Fie to Computers, Let People Decide". Washington Post.
- Flink, Steve (30 September 2003). "Obituaries: Althea Gibson". The Independent. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
External links
- "World Champions". International Tennis Federation (ITF). 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2017.