Tennis Book 2010_Layout 1 - TIA UK

What They Do
The International Tennis Federation (ITF)
Established in 1913 with agreement from 12 national
associations, the activities of the International Lawn Tennis
Federation were disrupted by the advent of the Great War and
it wasn’t until 1923 that they took over the rules of the game.
Currently 205 national associations are affiliated to the ITF
(they dropped ‘Lawn’ from their title in 1977) and remain
responsible for administering and regulating the game
internationally including technical specifications for the
court, rackets and balls as well as certification of tennis
officials and enforcing the anti-doping programme with the
ATP and WTA.
In addition they administer international
competitions like the Davis Cup, the Fed Cup,
tennis at the Olympics and the equivalent
events in wheelchair tennis, plus events for both seniors and
juniors.
The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA)
To bring some clarity to the then new sport of Lawn Tennis,
60 clubs agreed to establish a governing body for the sport
in 1888. The group included the All England Club and
William Renshaw, already six times Wimbledon champion,
was elected as the first President.
The continuous growth of the game both in Great Britain and
around the world necessitated, in 1913, the foundation of the
International Lawn Tennis Federation whose responsibility
was to oversee the international aspect of the game and to
take over the rule-making from the LTA.
Since then the LTA has been in the business of promoting the
sport in and around Britain. One of its first priorities (in
1920) was to help the All England Club construct its present
headquarters at Church Road, Wimbledon.
Besides Wimbledon, the LTA currently supports top level
international events at Birmingham, Queen’s,
Eastbourne, and the O2 Arena as well as
events at a lower level, the Pro-Series and
the British Tour plus junior events.
The ATP World Tour (formerly the Association of
Tennis Professionals - ATP)
In 1972, the leading male professionals joined forces to
create the Association of Tennis Professional with the goal of
changing the game for the better.
One of the first initiatives was to establish a computer
ranking system to analyse player performances as a means to
determine entries to tournaments.
This was launched in 1973.
At the time the men’s professional game was administered by
the Men’s Tennis Council made up of representatives from
the ILTF, the ATP and tournament directors from around the
world.
This was disbanded in 1989 when the ATP decided the
players needed to control their sport and announced their
intentions at a press conference at the 1988 US Open in the
car park of Flushing Meadows revealing the problems which
existed in the professional game. One of their answers was to
establish their own professional tour, the ATP Tour which in
2010, is celebrating its 21 st anniversary.
In 1997 they established the ATP Senior Tour of Champions.
They have also been instrumental in introducing rule
changes to enhance the fans experience like eliminating five
set finals and replacing the third set in doubles with
Champions Tiebreaks, as well as replacing the ad rule with a
sudden death point on deuce.
This year they have implemented
tournament tiers to make it easier for the
public to understand what points the players
are competing for, namely ATP World Tour at
Masters level 1000, Tour level 500 and 250.
For the record, Grand Slam events are 2000.
The WTA Tour (formerly the Women’s Tennis
Association - WTA)
In 1970, led by Billie Jean King, the women rebelled against
officialdom and their reduced prize money levels in
comparison to the men, by setting up the Virginia Slims Tour
but it wasn’t until 1973 that the actual Women’s Tennis
Association Players’ Association was established to unite all
the women’s professional tournaments under one banner.
This decision was reached at the Gloucester Hotel in London
a week before Wimbledon.
One of the association’s main objectives
was to obtain equality in prize money
levels with their male counterparts at the Grand Slams which
the US Open agreed to immediately.
In 1995 the WTA merged with the Women’s Tennis Council to
form the WTA Tour and in 2001 the Australian Open agreed
to equal prize money which was then matched by Roand
Garros and Wimbledon in 2007, the year that the association
also started experimenting with on-court coaching while
announcing a shorter season, a more fan friendly approach
and introducing heavier penalties for player withdrawals from
events.
The Tennis Industry Association UK (TIA)
The TIA UK was founded in 1998 and its mission is to
promote, foster and protect industry growth and vitality in the
UK, as well as to provide commercial benefits to tennis
businesses while supporting the LTA’s efforts to promote the
sport at all levels.
Members range from multi-million pound corporations to
individual entrepreneurs, all of whom care and depend on the
future of the game, and currently number over
65 tennis businesses and over 135 individual
Tennis Racquet Specialists.
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