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Tennis Tournament Information

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 205 national tennis associations.

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. 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 not played on grass.

Originally based in Paris, its funds were moved to London, UK during World War II; From that time onwards the ILTF/ITF has been run from London. Until 1987, the ITF was based at Wimbledon, it then moved to Barons Court, near Queens Club, and then moved again in 1998 to the Bank of England Sports Ground, Roehampton.

Its official annual is The ITF Year, describing the activities of the ITF over last 12 months. This replaced World of Tennis.

The ITF operates the three major national team competitions in the sport, the Davis Cup for men, the Fed Cup for women and the Hopman Cup, mixed teams. The ITF is also responsible for organizing 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 also organizes the lowest tier tournaments in the world of professional tennis. On the men's side, this is known as the ITF Men's Circuit, consisting of one-week tournaments called "Futures". The ITF also ran four-week satellite tournaments of roughly the same quality level, but they were discontinued after the 2006 season. Virtually every male professional player started by playing on the ITF Men's Circuit.

The ITF is responsible for maintaining an international under-18 junior circuit for boys and girls.

The Grand Slam Tennis Tournaments

In tennis, a singles player or doubles team that wins all four Grand Slam titles in the same year is said to have achieved the Grand Slam or a Calendar Year Grand Slam. If the player or team wins all four consecutively, but not in the same calendar year, it is called a Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam. If a player wins all four at some point in his or her career, even if not consecutively, it is called a Career Grand Slam. Winning three of the four tournaments is called a Small Slam.

The four Grand Slam tournaments are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, and public attention. They are: Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.

The term Grand Slam, as applied to tennis, was first used by New York Times columnist John Kieran according to Total Tennis, The Ultimate Tennis Encyclopedia by Bud Collins. In the chapter about 1933, Collins writes that after the Australian player Jack Crawford had won the Australian, French, and Wimbledon Championships, speculation arose about his chances in the U.S. Championships. Kieran, who was a bridge player, wrote: "If Crawford wins, it would be something like scoring a grand slam on the courts, doubled and vulnerable." Crawford, an asthmatic, won two of the first three sets of his finals match against Fred Perry, then tired in the heat and lost the last two sets and the match.

The expression Grand Slam, initially used to describe the winning of the tennis major events in one calendar year, was later incorporated by other sports, notably golf, to describe a similar accomplishment.

Helen Wills Moody won all 16 of the Grand Slam singles tournaments she played beginning with the 1924 U.S. Championships and extending through the 1933 Wimbledon Championships (not counting her defaults in the 1926 French and Wimbledon Championships). The first 15 of those were won without losing a set. During this period, she won 6 Wimbledons, 4 French Championships, and 6 U.S. Championships. She also won the 1924 Summer Olympics during this period. Moody never entered the Australian Championships.

The greatest male singles players of all time

Further information: Tennis male players statistics, World number one male tennis player rankings
A frequent topic of discussion among tennis fans and commentators is who was the greatest male singles player of all time. No consensus has ever existed, however. By a large margin, an Associated Press poll in 1950 named Bill Tilden as the greatest player of the first half of the 20th century. From 1920-1930, Tilden won singles titles at Wimbledon three times and the U.S. Championships seven times. In 1938, however, Donald Budge became the first person to win all four Grand Slam singles titles during the same calendar year and won six consecutive Grand Slam singles titles in 1937 and 1938. Tilden called Budge "the finest player 365 days a year that ever lived." And in his 1979 autobiography, Jack Kramer said that, based on consistent play, Budge was the greatest player ever. Some observers, however, also felt that Kramer deserved consideration for the title. Kramer was among the few who dominated amateur and professional tennis during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Tony Trabert has said that of the players he saw before the start of the open era, Kramer was the best male champion.

By the latter half of the 1950s and 1960s, Budge and others had added Pancho Gonzales and Lew Hoad to the list of contenders. Budge reportedly believed that Gonzales was the greatest player ever. Gonzales said about Hoad, "When Lew's game was at its peak nobody could touch him. ... I think his game was the best game ever. Better than mine. He was capable of making more shots than anybody. His two volleys were great. His overhead was enormous. He had the most natural tennis mind with the most natural tennis physique."

During the open era, first Rod Laver and then more recently Björn Borg and Pete Sampras were regarded by many of their contemporaries as among the greatest ever. Cliff Drysdale has said that Laver is the greatest player ever. Mats Wilander said, "The greatest player ever is not necessarily the player who has won the most. I would say that Björn Borg is the greatest player ever because he won Wimbledon five times in a row. And out of those five times, he won the French Open all of those five years, plus another year." Laver has said that Sampras is "equal to anyone who has ever played the game." John McEnroe has said that either Laver or Sampras is the greatest player ever. Roger Federer is now considered by many observers to have the most "complete" game in modern tennis, with the potential to surpass the achievements of these past greats. Many experts of tennis, former tennis players and some of his own tennis peers believe Federer may become the greatest player in the history of the game. The tennis historian Raymond Lee did a statistical analysis account of the question, counting tournament wins totals and percentages of career match wins and wins in a 5 year period. His alltime list ranks Laver ahead of Borg and Tilden (tie), Federer, Gonzales, Rosewall, Budge, Lendl, Connors, Sampras in the top ten.