Issue link: http://itf.uberflip.com/i/366594
ITFWORLD SUMMER 2014 3 www.itftennis.com boys' doubles, taking some of the attention away from the World Cup, while Tami Grende of Indonesia, also a GSDF team member, and Qiu Yu Ye of China won the girls' doubles. Houdet and Kunieda teamed to win the wheelchair men's doubles while Kamiji and Whiley repeated their Paris win by taking the Wimbledon wheelchair women's doubles title. Wheelchair tennis had some very good news with the signing of Uniqlo as title sponsor of the Wheelchair Tennis Tour and the Wheelchair Doubles Masters event, and as international sponsor of the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters in 2014. The launch, which took place just before Wimbledon, featured the three Uniqlo global ambassadors Novak Djokovic, Kei Nishikori and Shingo Kunieda. This provided great visibility for wheelchair tennis in front of the media and we look forward to a great relationship with Uniqlo over the next years. We are profiling the recent upswing in tennis in Japan in this issue of ITFWorld, following up on the success of Nishikori, Kunieda and Kamiji and of course Japan's first-ever Davis Cup by BNP Paribas quarterfinal in April. The BNP Paribas World Team Cup is the Davis Cup and Fed Cup of wheelchair tennis. The competition was staged this year in Alphen, Netherlands and hosted by the KNLTB. France won its sixth men's World Group title in the event's 30- year history, Netherlands won its 27th women's title in 29 years, Great Britain won the quad event for the fourth time and Russia won its first-ever World Team Cup title in the junior event. Congratulations to all of the competitors for an outstanding week of tennis. On the second Tuesday of Roland Garros, the ITF stages the annual World Champions Dinner. This year, the ITF presented its highest honour, the Philippe Chatrier Award, to Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde for their achievements on the court and for the contributions they have made to tennis in their post-playing careers as commentators, coaches, mentors and administrators. For a variety of reasons, the senior champions were not able to attend but it was our pleasure to present the trophies to our junior champions, Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and Alexander Zverev of Germany and to our wheelchair champions, Kunieda and Aniek van Koot. There were many former champions on hand including Chris Evert, Mary Pierce, Esther Vergeer, Nicola Pietrangeli and Stan Smith, among others. For the first time in a number of years, I was able to attend the enshrinement ceremony for the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport. I find the work that the Hall of Fame does to preserve the history of the game to be a very important activity and it was an honour to share enshrinement day with Lindsay Davenport, Nick Bollettieri, Chantal Vandierendonck, John Barrett and Jane Brown Grimes. Each of them has made their contribution to tennis in a different way, some on the court and some off, but all have been important in the evolution of tennis over the past years. I know Jane better than some of the others and I have always been impressed with her dedication to tennis and it is great to see someone on the administrative side recognised for their contributions. I also was pleased to see Mark Stenning, who has done such a great job on behalf of the ITHF for 35 years, honoured with a Lifetime Trustee award. Mark is a class act who will retire from the Hall of Fame later this year and we at the ITF will miss him in this role although we hope that he will find himself with another position in tennis so that we can continue to work together. Like everyone else around the world, I was captivated by the FIFA World Cup and reminded once again how powerful an influence sport is internationally. I am proud to say that tennis more than holds its own as one of the most universal and successful of sports, producing players of quality from all parts of the globe. I think that those of us who work in tennis all the time may lose a bit of perspective and not appreciate the respect we enjoy in the wider world. Tennis has been a leader in so many areas, from equality for women to full integration of wheelchair tennis to its willingness to adapt to technological changes. Tennis is a clean sport due to the rigorous Tennis Anti-Doping Programme and Tennis Integrity Unit. The FIFA World Cup is an amazing event that attracts the attention of billions of fans every four years. But tennis also is a lightning rod for fans, with our great championships, the Grand Slams, Davis Cup by BNP Paribas, Fed Cup by BNP Paribas and the year- end championships of both the ATP and WTA Tour galvanizing huge audiences every year. Tennis is not football but we can be proud of our place as one of the top sports internationally. I am proud to say that tennis more than holds its own as one of the most universal and successful of sports, producing players of quality from all parts of the globe. Francesco Ricci bitti ITF President