Issue link: http://itf.uberflip.com/i/441551
ITFWORLD WINTER 2014 3 www.itftennis.com year and have paid special attention to how the fans react to our events and it is amazing, gratifying and sometimes even a little crazy — in the best possible way — with costumes, musical instruments and official cheers. Thanks to our member nations who embraced this campaign with 100 percent participation, and especially for those who went just that little bit extra to make it even more meaningful. At the end of every year, it is time to announce the ITF World Champions and, while it is a bit deja vu, the story of 2014, like 2013, is that Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, Bob and Mike Bryan, and Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, turned in wonderful performances that warranted this honour again. Shingo Kunieda also returns as ITF Wheelchair World Champion with a new women's Wheelchair World Champion in his countrywoman Yui Kamiji. The Junior World Champions are Russia's Andrey Rublev and Catherine Bellis of USA. A dedicated feature in this magazine details their incredible seasons. We congratulate all of them and look forward to welcoming them to the ITF World Champions Dinner in Paris in June. The highlight of the junior calendar in 2014 was the second edition of the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing. Played at a great venue just outside the city in cooperation with the Chinese Tennis Association, the YOG had excellent crowds all week and especially for the final to cheer on Xu Shilin who won the girls' singles gold medal. The other gold medallists were Kamil Majchrzak of Poland (boys' singles), Orlando Luz and Marcelo Zormann of Brazil (boys' doubles), Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine and Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus (girls' doubles), and Jil Teichmann of Switzerland and Jan Zielinski of Poland who won the inaugural mixed doubles event. I was impressed by the enthusiasm of the athletes on site and how much they embraced the Olympic spirit. It seems a long time since the US Open but I would be remiss if I did not congratulate Croatia's Marin Cilic on winning his first Grand Slam title and Kei Nishikori of Japan who achieved his first final along with women's champion Williams, men's doubles champions the Bryans, women's doubles champions Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina of Russia, and mixed doubles champions Sania Mirza of India and Bruno Soares of Brazil. The boys' title was won by Omar Jasika of Australia who also teamed with Naoki Nakagawa of Japan to win the boys' doubles. Marie Bouzkova of Czech Republic won the girls' singles, demonstrating another generation of strong Czech women, while Ipek Soylu of Turkey paired with Teichmann, gold medal winner in mixed doubles in Nanjing, to win the girls' doubles. It was an excellent year for wheelchair tennis with the signing of Uniqlo as a sponsor in June. At the US Open the wheelchair events were dominated by Japan with Kunieda and Kamiji taking the singles, Kunieda and France's Stephane Houdet the men's doubles, Kamiji and Jordanne Whiley of Great Britain the women's doubles. Andrew Lapthorne of Great Britain won the quad singles while Nick Taylor and David Wagner of the USA won the quad doubles. The Uniqlo Wheelchair Doubles Masters was staged in Mission Viejo, California in early November and was won by Joachim Gerard and Houdet (men's), Kamiji and Whiley (women's), and Taylor and Wagner (quads). The NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters, staged in London for the first time at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, was won by Kunieda who defeated Nicolas Peifer of France in the final and Aniek van Koot of Netherlands who defeated Jiske Griffioen. Wagner defeated Australia's Dylan Alcott in the quad final. In the autumn, both seniors and junior tennis had busy schedules. The 34th editions of the Super Seniors World Individual and Team Championships were successfully staged in Antalya, Turkey, while in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, the American boys defeated Korea and the American girls defeated Slovakia for a sweep of the 2014 Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas competitions. All things point to some great years ahead for American tennis. We had an excellent Annual General Meeting in Dubai, the first in the Middle East, and my thanks to Tennis Emirates for their assistance in organising this important event. All that is left is for me to wish everyone a very happy New Year and I hope to see many of you over the course of 2015. It was a joy to see Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka celebrate the Davis Cup victory with their teammates, Marco Chiudinelli and Michael Lammer, and captain Severin Luthi and the thousands of Swiss fans who travelled to Lille. Francesco Ricci bitti ITF President