LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) – The International Tennis Federation officially became known as World Tennis on Thursday, with the sport’s global governing body outlining its ambitious vision to boost participation by 30%.
Founded in 1913, the ITF sets and enforces the sport’s rules, regulates international competition and runs the Davis Cup, Billie Jean King Cup, tennis at the Olympic Games and the tournament levels below the main Tours.
It also oversees the development and growth of the sport worldwide, and in announcing the name change pledged to reinvest 85% of all income it generates each year for the next decade.
In an open letter, World Tennis president David Haggerty and CEO Ross Hutchins outlined five strategic priorities:
• Growing participation
• Powering future stars
• Elevating official national competitions
• Ensuring a sport fit for the future
• Investing to grow the game
“Tennis is already one of the world’s largest sports. But we want to shout from the rooftops to anyone who hasn’t discovered us yet, ‘Tennis for all!’ and most importantly, tennis for you,” the letter read.
“If more people play, watch or follow, everyone in the game benefits. That’s the future we’ll be striving for.
“We believe it’s possible to increase global participation from 106 million people playing tennis to 140 million by 2035. That’s an increase of more than 30%. We want to be ambitious, but we do think it’s realistic too.”
Explaining the need for a change of name, former professional player Hutchins said it was about being ‘recognisable’ and separate from organisations such as the men’s ATP Tour and women’s WTA Tour.
“The ITF isn’t well known enough or isn’t understood enough by audiences that can have a difference and a positive impact to our game,” Hutchins said.
“World Tennis shows the global nature of us, shows the focal point of us as an organisation.”
The change in name comes at a crucial time for tennis with leading players demanding a greater share of Grand Slam revenues and some of them making their point by limiting their media appearances at the French Open.
Twenty-four-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic recently called for more unity between the various organisations in the sport or risk fragmentation.
Hutchins, formerly the ATP’s Chief Sporting Officer, said that World Tennis would drive collaboration.
“I’m very open and transparent in what I believe and now in this position, I feel it even stronger than before, that collaboration is the way forward,” he said.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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