The International Tennis Federation (ITF) designates a World Champion each year based on its own majority opinion of performances throughout the year, emphasizing 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

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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.

The opinion of the Board of Directors is taken to be equivalent to the majority opinions of the members of the Board.

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.

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 and also based on world ranking. 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 and 1991.[9]

The ITF World Champions Dinner takes place annually to honour the previous year's champions,[10] who are presented with a trophy, but not any monetary prize.[11] The dinner was held during the French Open up until 2022, but since 2023 has been held during Wimbledon.

For 2020 there were no ITF World Champion awards given due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tennis season was suspended for about 5 months for both the female and the male tennis players.[12]

Men's singles

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The first men's panel in 1978 had three members, Don Budge, Fred Perry, and Lew Hoad,[11][13] who attended the season's Grand Slam events at ITF expense to inform their choice.[14] The 1983 panel split two to one between John McEnroe (votes of Budge and Perry) and Mats Wilander (vote of Hoad).[15] The 1984 panel had five members,[16] while the 1985 panel had four: Budge, Perry, Hoad, and Tony Trabert.[17] 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.[17] Perry and Trabert were on the 1986 panel, with performances outside the Grand Slams taken into consideration.[18]

The 1990 designation of Lendl as champion was a surprise.[19] 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.[20] Tennis also suggested the ITF was punishing Edberg for denigrating the Grand Slam Cup tournament it had introduced.[20] 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.[19]

The choice to award Djokovic the ITF World Champion of 2013 over Nadal was unexpected. Nadal finished the year ranked #1 and with more Grand 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 Grand Slams (DNP the Australian Open, 1st round loss at Wimbledon) to justify their decision and Djokovic's consistent results across all four Grand 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).[21]

Other instances when the ITF choices differed from the ATP rankings are 1978 (Jimmy Connors), 1982 (McEnroe), 1989 (Lendl), and 2022 (Carlos Alcaraz). None of these were controversial, with the 1978 and 1982 choices being particularly clear cut in favor of Borg (1978) and Connors (1982)[citation needed]. Nadal won in 2022, despite Alcaraz being the year-end number 1; Nadal won two Grand Slam titles, while Alcaraz failed to reach the semi-final stage in three of four Grand Slams.

Year Player
1978   Björn Borg
1979   Björn Borg (2)
1980   Björn Borg (3)
1981   John McEnroe
1982   Jimmy Connors
1983   John McEnroe (2)
1984   John McEnroe (3)
1985   Ivan Lendl
1986   Ivan Lendl (2)
1987   Ivan Lendl (3)
1988   Mats Wilander
1989   Boris Becker
1990   Ivan Lendl (4)
1991   Stefan Edberg
1992   Jim Courier
1993   Pete Sampras
1994   Pete Sampras (2)
1995   Pete Sampras (3)
1996   Pete Sampras (4)
1997   Pete Sampras (5)
1998   Pete Sampras (6)
1999   Andre Agassi
2000   Gustavo Kuerten
2001   Lleyton Hewitt
2002   Lleyton Hewitt (2)
2003   Andy Roddick
2004   Roger Federer
2005   Roger Federer (2)
2006   Roger Federer (3)
2007   Roger Federer (4)
2008   Rafael Nadal
2009   Roger Federer (5)
2010   Rafael Nadal (2)
2011   Novak Djokovic
2012   Novak Djokovic (2)
2013   Novak Djokovic (3)
2014   Novak Djokovic (4)
2015   Novak Djokovic (5)
2016   Andy Murray
2017   Rafael Nadal (3)
2018   Novak Djokovic (6)
2019   Rafael Nadal (4)
2020 No award due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021   Novak Djokovic (7)
2022   Rafael Nadal (5)
2023   Novak Djokovic (8)
2024
Total Player
8   Novak Djokovic (SRB)
6   Pete Sampras (USA)
5   Roger Federer (SUI)
  Rafael Nadal (ESP)
4   Ivan Lendl (TCH)
3   Björn Borg (SWE)
  John McEnroe (USA)
2   Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)
1   Jimmy Connors (USA)
  Mats Wilander (SWE)
  Boris Becker (GER)
  Stefan Edberg (SWE)
  Jim Courier (USA)
  Andre Agassi (USA)
  Gustavo Kuerten (BRA)
  Andy Roddick (USA)
  Andy Murray (GBR)

Women's singles

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The women's panel initially featured three former women's champions, Margaret Court, Margaret duPont and Ann Jones.[22][11][13] Althea Gibson was a member through the early 1980s.[23]

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), 2023 (Iga Swiatek).

Year Player
1978   Chris Evert
1979   Martina Navratilova
1980   Chris Evert (2)
1981   Chris Evert (3)
1982   Martina Navratilova (2)
1983   Martina Navratilova (3)
1984   Martina Navratilova (4)
1985   Martina Navratilova (5)
1986   Martina Navratilova (6)
1987   Steffi Graf
1988   Steffi Graf (2)
1989   Steffi Graf (3)
1990   Steffi Graf (4)
1991   Monica Seles
1992   Monica Seles (2)
1993   Steffi Graf (5)
1994   Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
1995   Steffi Graf (6)
1996   Steffi Graf (7)
1997   Martina Hingis
1998   Lindsay Davenport
1999   Martina Hingis (2)
2000   Martina Hingis (3)
2001   Jennifer Capriati
2002   Serena Williams
2003   Justine Henin
2004   Anastasia Myskina
2005   Kim Clijsters
2006   Justine Henin (2)
2007   Justine Henin (3)
2008   Jelena Janković
2009   Serena Williams (2)
2010   Caroline Wozniacki
2011   Petra Kvitová
2012   Serena Williams (3)
2013   Serena Williams (4)
2014   Serena Williams (5)
2015   Serena Williams (6)
2016   Angelique Kerber
2017   Garbiñe Muguruza
2018   Simona Halep
2019   Ashleigh Barty
2020 No award due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021   Ashleigh Barty (2)
2022   Iga Świątek
2023   Aryna Sabalenka
Total Player
7   Steffi Graf (GER)
6   Martina Navratilova (USA)
  Serena Williams (USA)
3   Chris Evert (USA)
  Martina Hingis (SUI)
  Justine Henin (BEL)
2   Monica Seles (YUG)
  Ashleigh Barty (AUS)
1   Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
  Lindsay Davenport
  Jennifer Capriati
  Anastasia Myskina
  Kim Clijsters
  Jelena Janković
  Caroline Wozniacki
  Petra Kvitová
  Angelique Kerber
  Garbiñe Muguruza
  Simona Halep
  Iga Świątek
  Aryna Sabalenka

Doubles

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Men's doubles

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Year Player
1996   Todd Woodbridge & Mark Woodforde
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
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
2020 No award due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021   Nikola Mektić &   Mate Pavić
2022   Joe Salisbury &   Rajeev Ram
2023   Joe Salisbury (2) &   Rajeev Ram (2)

Women's doubles

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Year Player
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)
2020 No award due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021   Barbora Krejčíková (2) &   Kateřina Siniaková (2)
2022   Barbora Krejčíková (3) &   Kateřina Siniaková (3)
2023   Storm Hunter &   Elise Mertens

Junior

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Boys' combined (2004– )

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Year Player
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
2020 No award due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021   Shang Juncheng
2022   Gilles-Arnaud Bailly
2023   João Fonseca

Girls' combined (2004– )

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Year Player
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
2020 No award due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021   Petra Marčinko
2022   Lucie Havlíčková
2023   Alina Korneeva

Singles (1978–2003)

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Boys' singles

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Year Player
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

Girls' singles

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Year Player
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   Natalia Zvereva
1988   Cristina Tessi
1989   Florencia Labat
1990   Karina Habšudová
1991   Zdeňka Málková
1992   Rossana de los Ríos
1993   Nino Louarsabishvili
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

Doubles (1978–2003)

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Boys' doubles

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Year Player
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
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

Girls' doubles

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Year Player
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

Wheelchair

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Men's wheelchair

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Year Player
1991   Randy Snow
1992   Laurent Giammartini
1993   Kai Schramayer
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)
2020 No award due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021   Shingo Kunieda (9)
2022   Shingo Kunieda (10)
2023   Alfie Hewett

Women's wheelchair

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Year Player
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)
2020 No award due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021   Diede de Groot (3)
2022   Diede de Groot (4)
2023   Diede de Groot (5)

Quad's wheelchair

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Year Player
2017   David Wagner
2018   Dylan Alcott
2019   Dylan Alcott (2)
2020 No award due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021   Dylan Alcott (3)
2022   Niels Vink
2023   Niels Vink (2)

See also

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References

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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

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  1. ^ a b ITF Constitution, p.26, Rule 2.2(a)(iii)
  2. ^ "ITF opt for Hewitt and Capriati". BBC Online. 2 December 2001. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  3. ^ ITF Constitution, p.53 Appendix E
  4. ^ "Rafael Nadal, Garbine Muguruza win ITF Player of the Year awards". ESPN.com. 2017-12-08. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
  5. ^ ITF Constitution, p.29: Article 29(a)
  6. ^ ITF Constitution, p.38 Regulation 3.1
  7. ^ ITF Constitution, Appendix E, pp.53, 60
  8. ^ "ITF Tennis - WHEELCHAIR - Articles - ITF to honour quad wheelchair world champions". www.itftennis.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-13.
  9. ^ Gillen, Nancy (1 April 2020). "Santana and Stolle receive ITF Philippe Chatrier Award". Inside the Games. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  10. ^ "World Champions Dinner". ITF. 2013. Archived from the original on 16 August 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  11. ^ a b c "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.
  12. ^ "ITF celebrates 2019 World Champions". www.itftennis.com. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  13. ^ a b Joe Jares (February 13, 1978). "Champion by committee". Sports Illustrated. Vol. 48, no. 8. p. 11.
  14. ^ "Wind, Herbert Warren (15 February 1978). "The Sports Scene: Budge and the Grand Slam". The New Yorker. Vol. 63. p. 76.
  15. ^ UPI (17 January 1984). "McEnroe tapped as world's best". The Bulletin. Bend, Oregon. p. D-1. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  16. ^ "McEnroe crowned World Champ by tennis panel". Gainesville Sun. 17 January 1985. p. 3E. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  17. ^ a b Fogarty, Mark (21 January 1986). "All the awards, plus a rebuke". The Age. p. 48. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  18. ^ "It's official: Lendl best in world". Boca Raton News. 11 December 1986. p. 4D. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  19. ^ a b "Lendl, not Edberg, named tennis world champion". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Associated Press. 18 December 1990. p. 1C. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  20. ^ a b Tennis (in French) (179). France. 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) {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  21. ^ "Williams and Djokovic named 2013 ITF World Champion". ITF. 18 December 2013. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  22. ^ Ron Rosen (January 17, 1978). "Fie to Computers, Let People Decide". Washington Post.
  23. ^ Flink, Steve (30 September 2003). "Obituaries: Althea Gibson". The Independent. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
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