|
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 210 national tennis associations or corresponding organizations of independent countries or territories.〔 〕 It was established as the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) by 12 national associations meeting at a conference in Paris, France on 1 March 1913, and discussions on rules and policy continued through 1923. It was at this time that two compromises were reached: the title 'world championships' would be abolished and wording would be 'for ever in the English language'. In 1924 it became the officially recognised organisation with authority to control lawn tennis throughout the world, with official 'ILTF Rules of Tennis'. In 1977 it dropped the word 'lawn' from its title, recognising that most tennis was no longer played on grass. Originally based in Paris, its funds were moved to London, England during World War II and from that time onward the ITF has been run from the United Kingdom capital. It was based at Wimbledon until 1987, when it moved to Barons Court, next door to Queen's Club. It then moved again in 1998 to the Bank of England Sports Ground, Roehampton its current base of operations.〔(History of the ITF )〕 Its official annual is ''The ITF Year'', describing the activities of the ITF over last 12 months. This replaced ''World of Tennis'', which was the official annual from 1969 to 2001. ==Function== The ITF operates the three major international team competitions in the sport, the Davis Cup for men, the Fed Cup for women and the Hopman Cup, for mixed teams. The ITF also sanctions the four grand slams: the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. While the ATP Tour and WTA Tour control most other high-level professional tournaments, the ITF runs developmental professional tours for men and women. The ITF Men's Circuit consists of Futures tournaments with prize funds of USD 10,000 or USD 15,000. Medium level men's tournaments are run by the ATP through the ATP Challenger Tour. The ITF previously also ran four-week satellite tournaments of roughly the same quality level as Futures tournaments, but they were discontinued after the 2006 season. The ITF Women's Circuit incorporates both lower and mid-level tournaments, with prize funds ranging from USD 10,000 to USD 100,000. Virtually every ATP and WTA player started by playing on the ITF circuits. The ITF is responsible for maintaining an international under-18 junior circuit for boys and girls, as well as international wheelchair tennis and seniors tennis circuits. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「International Tennis Federation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|