General · EdgepediaSeptember 17, 20266 min read

International Tennis Federation

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) describes itself as the global governing body of tennis, responsible for the Rules of Tennis, the Davis Cup, the Billie Jean King Cup, the Olympic and Paralympic tennis events, and a worldwide circuit of development and professional tournaments. Founded in Paris on 1 March 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF), it was renamed the International Tennis Federation in 1977 and, from June 2026, trades as World Tennis.¹^•²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Founded	1 March 1913, Paris, as the International Lawn Tennis Federation, with 15 inaugural member nations¹
Renamed	International Tennis Federation in 1977; World Tennis from June 2026²^•³
Membership	214 member national tennis associations⁴
Core responsibilities	Rules of Tennis, Davis Cup, Billie Jean King Cup, Olympic and Paralympic tennis events¹
Tours	Six tours with about 3,000 events a year, including nearly 2,000 professional tournaments on the World Tennis Tour⁵^•¹
Headquarters	London; the ILTF has been run from London since 1939¹
Leadership	President David Haggerty; Chief Executive Ross Hutchins²^•³

Foundation and early history

The need for an international federation became apparent by 1911, as lawn tennis spread worldwide and national associations sought a body to structure the game uniformly. Credit for the concept is given to Duane Williams, who died on board the Titanic before seeing the idea realized, Charles Barde of the Swiss Tennis Association, and Henri Wallet of the French Tennis Federation. Twelve national associations attended the General Conference in Paris on 1 March 1913 at which the International Lawn Tennis Federation was founded; the federation's own FAQ records 15 nations as inaugural members, with French chosen as the official language.⁶^•¹

In 1923 the Annual General Meeting adopted the official ILTF Rules of Tennis, effective 1 January 1924, and created a new category of Official Championship for events in Great Britain, France, the USA, and Australia, the tournaments known today as the Grand Slams.¹ After World War II broke out in 1914 had reduced membership to 10 nations, the federation grew again; in 1939, with war approaching and the French franc devaluing, its funds were transferred to Great Britain, and the ILTF has been run from London since that time.¹

The 'Lawn' was later dropped from the name, and in 1977 the organization became the International Tennis Federation.²

Role and responsibilities

The federation describes itself as the global governing body and guardian of tennis, working with its 214 member nations.⁴ Its duties include upholding the Rules of Tennis and monitoring technological innovations in the sport; under the rules framework, a Rules of Tennis Committee monitors the game and recommends changes to the Board of Directors, which in turn recommends them to the Annual General Meeting, the ultimate authority for rule changes.¹^•⁷

Team events and the Games. The federation owns and operates the Davis Cup, the men's World Cup of Tennis founded in 1900 as a contest between the USA and Great Britain, and the Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge, the women's World Cup founded in 1963 as the Federation Cup, renamed Fed Cup in 1995 and renamed again in 2020 in honor of Billie Jean King. A record 148 nations entered the Billie Jean King Cup in 2026. It also operates the tennis event at the Olympic Games with the local organizing committee and the International Olympic Committee, and the wheelchair tennis event at the Paralympic Games with the International Paralympic Committee.¹

Tours. The federation runs six tours with about 3,000 events a year for players of all ages and abilities: the Men's and Women's World Tennis Tour, World Tennis Tour Juniors, World Tennis Masters Tour, UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, and Beach Tennis World Tour.⁵ The World Tennis Tour comprises nearly 2,000 professional tournaments and is the main pathway to the ATP and WTA Tours; the Juniors tour hosted 1,000 tournaments in a single season for the first time in 2025, with tiers from J30 to J500 and Junior Grand Slams at the top.¹

Grand Slams. The four Grand Slam tournaments are owned and organized by their national associations: Tennis Australia, the French Federation of Tennis, the United States Tennis Association, and, for Wimbledon, a joint Committee of Management of the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club and the Lawn Tennis Association. The federation works with each through its presence on the Grand Slam Board, providing governance, administrative, officiating, and media support, and operates the Grand Slam Player Development Programme on the Board's behalf. That program's grant scheme, introduced in 2017, provides total annual funding of $650,000 through grants of $25,000 or $12,500 per player.¹^•⁸

Governance reform

A four-year governance review concluded that the existing Constitution was outdated and did not meet current expectations of good governance for a global sports federation. The AGM approved a new Constitution for 2025 and beyond, with changes aligned to the International Olympic Committee's principles of good governance, and member nations approved Board changes from 2027 ensuring a minimum of five women and five men are elected.⁹

Renaming as World Tennis

On 16 October 2025, member national associations voted by an overwhelming majority at the Annual General Meeting to rename the organization World Tennis, on a recommendation from the ITF Board and Executive. The name was chosen after research and interviews with stakeholders across the sport and aligns the brand with a majority of sport's most prominent global governing bodies, several of which have made similar 'World [sport]' transitions in recent years. The trading name was updated on 1 January 2026, and the new brand launched in summer 2026 as part of a phased rollout; the change builds on existing sub-brands such as the World Tennis Tour and World Tennis Number.²^•¹⁰

At the launch on 25 June 2026, President David Haggerty and Chief Executive Ross Hutchins pledged to reinvest at least 85 percent of all income generated each year back into the game for the next decade, and set a participation goal of growing worldwide player numbers from 106 million to 140 million by 2035, an increase of more than 30 percent.³

Place in tennis governance

Tennis governance is fragmented among several bodies with separate interests: the four Grand Slam events, the ATP men's tour, the WTA women's tour, and the federation, with commentators counting as many as seven governing bodies once each Slam's separate jurisdiction is included.¹¹^•¹² In March 2025 the Professional Tennis Players Association, the players' body co-founded by Novak Djokovic that is not legally recognized as a union because players are independent contractors, filed a class-action antitrust lawsuit against the ATP, WTA, and ITF, naming the Grand Slam events as co-conspirators and alleging the four majors generated over $1.5 billion collectively in 2024 while paying players between 10 and 20 percent of revenue.¹³^•¹⁴ The federation and the Grand Slam Board have also jointly invested over US$4 million per year in the global growth of tennis through the Grand Slam Development Fund.¹⁵

References

Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026