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]
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.[4] There is currently no such tournament. The constitution also states:[5]
- 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.[6]
The ITF World Champions' Dinner takes place in Paris during the French Open, to honour the previous year's champions,[7] who are presented with a trophy, but not any monetary prize.[8]
Men's singles
The first men's panel in 1978 had three members, Don Budge, Fred Perry, and Lew Hoad,[8][9] who attended the season's Grand Slam events at ITF expense to inform their choice.[10] The 1983 panel split two to one between John McEnroe (votes of Budge and Perry) and Mats Wilander (vote of Hoad).[11] The 1984 panel had five members,[12] while the 1985 panel had four: Budge, Perry, Hoad, and Tony Trabert.[13] 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.[13] Perry and Trabert were on the 1986 panel, with performances outside the Grand Slams taken into consideration.[14]
The 1990 designation of Lendl as champion was a surprise.[15] 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.[16] Tennis also suggested the ITF was punishing Edberg for denigrating the Grand Slam Cup tournament it had introduced.[16] 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.[15]
Other instances when the ITF choices differed from the ATP rankings are 1978 (Jimmy Connors), 1982 (McEnroe), 1989 (Lendl) and 2013 (Rafael Nadal).
Women's singles
The women's panel initially featured three former women's champions, Margaret Court, Margaret duPont and Ann Jones.[17][8][9] Althea Gibson was a member through the early 1980s.[18]
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).
Men's doubles
| Year | Player | Nationality |
|---|
| 1996 | Todd Woodbridge (1) & Mark Woodforde (1) |  Australia & Australia |
| 1997 | Todd Woodbridge (2) & Mark Woodforde (2) | Australia & Australia |
| 1998 | Jacco Eltingh (1) & Paul Haarhuis (1) |  Netherlands & Netherlands |
| 1999 | Mahesh Bhupathi (1) & Leander Paes (1) |  India & India |
| 2000 | Todd Woodbridge (3) & Mark Woodforde (3) | Australia & Australia |
| 2001 | Jonas Björkman (1) & Todd Woodbridge (4) |  Sweden & Australia |
| 2002 | Mark Knowles (1) & Daniel Nestor (1) |  Bahamas &  Canada |
| 2003 | Bob Bryan (1) & Mike Bryan (1) |  United States & United States |
| 2004 | Bob Bryan (2) & Mike Bryan (2) | United States & United States |
| 2005 | Bob Bryan (3) & Mike Bryan (3) | United States & United States |
| 2006 | Bob Bryan (4) & Mike Bryan (4) | United States & United States |
| 2007 | Bob Bryan (5) & Mike Bryan (5) | United States & United States |
| 2008 | Daniel Nestor (2) & Nenad Zimonjić (1) | Canada &  Serbia |
| 2009 | Bob Bryan (6) & Mike Bryan (6) | United States & United States |
| 2010 | Bob Bryan (7) & Mike Bryan (7) | United States & United States |
| 2011 | Bob Bryan (8) & Mike Bryan (8) | United States & United States |
| 2012 | Bob Bryan (9) & Mike Bryan (9) | United States & United States |
| 2013 | Bob Bryan (10) & Mike Bryan (10) | United States & United States |
| 2014 | Bob Bryan (11) & Mike Bryan (11) | United States & United States |
| 2015 | Jean-Julien Rojer (1) & Horia Tecău (1) | Netherlands &  Romania |
| 2016 | Jamie Murray (1) & Bruno Soares (1) |  Great Britain &  Brazil |
Women's doubles
Boys
Boys' singles (1978–2003)
Boys' doubles (1982–2003)
Boys' combined (from 2004)
Girls
Girls' singles (1978–2003)
Girls' doubles (1982–2003)
Girls' combined (from 2004)
Men's wheelchair
| Year | Player | Nationality |
| 1991 | Randy Snow | United States |
| 1992 | Laurent Giammartini |  France |
| 1993 | Kai Schrameyer |  Germany |
| 1994 | Laurent Giammartini (2) | France |
| 1995 | David Hall | Australia |
| 1996 | Ricky Molier | Netherlands |
| 1997 | Ricky Molier (2) | Netherlands |
| 1998 | David Hall (2) | Australia |
| 1999 | Stephen Welch | United States |
| 2000 | David Hall (3) | Australia |
| 2001 | Ricky Molier (3) | Netherlands |
| 2002 | David Hall (4) | Australia |
| 2003 | David Hall (5) | Australia |
| 2004 | David Hall (6) | Australia |
| 2005 | Michaël Jeremiasz | France |
| 2006 | Robin Ammerlaan | Netherlands |
| 2007 | Shingo Kunieda |  Japan |
| 2008 | Shingo Kunieda (2) | Japan |
| 2009 | Shingo Kunieda (3) | Japan |
| 2010 | Shingo Kunieda (4) | Japan |
| 2011 | Maikel Scheffers | Netherlands |
| 2012 | Stéphane Houdet | France |
| 2013 | Shingo Kunieda (5) | Japan |
| 2014 | Shingo Kunieda (6) | Japan |
| 2015 | Shingo Kunieda (7) | Japan |
| 2016 | Gordon Reid | Great Britain |
Women's wheelchair
| Year | Player | Nationality |
| 1991 | Chantal Vandierendonck | Netherlands |
| 1992 | Monique Van Den Bosch | Netherlands |
| 1993 | Monique Kalkman (2) | Netherlands |
| 1994 | Monique Kalkman (3) | Netherlands |
| 1995 | Monique Kalkman (4) | Netherlands |
| 1996 | Chantal Vandierendonck (2) | Netherlands |
| 1997 | Chantal Vandierendonck (3) | Netherlands |
| 1998 | Daniela Di Toro | Australia |
| 1999 | Daniela Di Toro (2) | Australia |
| 2000 | Esther Vergeer | Netherlands |
| 2001 | Esther Vergeer (2) | Netherlands |
| 2002 | Esther Vergeer (3) | Netherlands |
| 2003 | Esther Vergeer (4) | Netherlands |
| 2004 | Esther Vergeer (5) | Netherlands |
| 2005 | Esther Vergeer (6) | Netherlands |
| 2006 | Esther Vergeer (7) | Netherlands |
| 2007 | Esther Vergeer (8) | Netherlands |
| 2008 | Esther Vergeer (9) | Netherlands |
| 2009 | Esther Vergeer (10) | Netherlands |
| 2010 | Esther Vergeer (11) | Netherlands |
| 2011 | Esther Vergeer (12) | Netherlands |
| 2012 | Esther Vergeer (13) | Netherlands |
| 2013 | Aniek van Koot | Netherlands |
| 2014 | Yui Kamiji | Japan |
| 2015 | Jiske Griffioen | Netherlands |
| 2016 | Jiske Griffioen (2) | Netherlands |
See also
References
- ITF Constitution
- 1 2 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
- ↑ ITF Constitution, p.29: Article 29(a)
- ↑ ITF Constitution, p.38 Regulation 3.1
- ↑ ITF Constitution, Appendix E, pp.53, 60
- ↑ "World Champions Dinner". ITF. 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
- 1 2 3 "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.
- 1 2 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.
- 1 2 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.
- 1 2 "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.
- 1 2 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 though of the Grand Slam Cup, the famous ITF invention to 'break' the ATP Tour)
- ↑ 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.
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