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Fortunately, with the latter we were able to move the schedule around, although if that had happened earlier in the week there would have been less flexibility and finding a solution would have been far more challenging. Prioritising the health of players and ensuring they can play multiple competitions, which they love to do, is crucial. We at the ITF – as the calendar-makers for wheelchair tennis – feel it would be prudent for the Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis Event to be played over 11 days. I also believe the Olympic Tennis Event would benefit from being played over a similar time period, although that is something which requires consultation with other stakeholders and the wider tennis community. Splendour of the Games During my Presidential message in the summer edition of ITFWorld, which was published days before the start of the Olympics, I wrote how much the Games mean to people, me included. I recounted growing up in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, where my family and I would gather around our black and white television set and watch the Summer and Winter Olympics. Never could I have imagined that, all these years later, I would head to the Olympics and Paralympics as the President of the ITF and as an International Olympic Committee member. Attending and participating in the IOC Session at the Games was a huge personal honour, as was presenting gold medals to competitors who had just realised their sporting dreams. I had the privilege of awarding medals to competitors in swimming, track and field and tennis – it was such a thrill. It was simply amazing to share such special moments with people who had achieved greatness. Indeed, I was on the same flight as Dylan Alcott as we made our way to the US Open and to hear his thoughts about the Games and winning gold was fantastic. I did not expect to have such treasured experiences in my life and career, and it is so important to honour the athletes who delivered such passion and professionalism in Tokyo. This is the purpose of this special edition of ITFWorld and I very much hope you enjoy remembering the splendour of Games as much as I have. n Alexander Zverev and Belinda Bencic at the 2014 ITF World Champions Dinner, flanked by two more gold medallists from Tokyo 2020, Aniek van Koot and Shingo Kunieda ITF World Tokyo 2020 05

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