ITF

(Continued from previous page) 04 REVIEW OF THE YEAR The Junior World Champions are Russia's Andrey Rublev, whose 2014 highlights include winning junior Roland Garros and two Youth Olympic medals, and Catherine Bellis, who won four titles and helped USA to win the Junior Fed Cup. Wheelchair Tennis had a strong year with a major sponsorship announcement in June that UNIQLO would become title sponsor of the Wheelchair Tennis Tour, the Wheelchair Doubles Masters and an international sponsor of the NEC Wheelchair Masters. The NEC Wheelchair Masters, staged at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in London, was won by Kunieda, Aniek van Koot of the Netherlands and David Wagner of the United States. The UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters took place in Mission Viejo, California in November. Joachim Gerard of Belgium teamed with Stephane Houdet of France to win the men's title while Kamiji and Jordanne Whiley of Great Britain lifted the women's trophy. Nick Taylor and David Wagner triumphed in the quad event. In the BNP Paribas World Team Cup the French won the men's World Group title for the sixth time and Belgium lifted the men's World Group II trophy. It was a 27th victory for Netherlands in the women's event while Great Britain secured their fourth Quad success and Russia took home the Junior title for the first time. In 2014, the Seniors played their World Team and World Individual Championships at Palm Beach Gardens and Boca Raton, Florida while the Super-Seniors played their events in Turkey. Senior tennis lost one of its leading lights this year with the death of Dodo Cheney of the United States on 23 November. Beach Tennis continued to grow and prosper with over 4,000 players participating in 207 tournaments in 2014. Italy emerged victorious from the 24 nations that entered the ITF Beach Tennis World Team Championship which were staged in July in Moscow. The ITF Beach Tennis World Championships were held in Cervia, Italy and the host nation dominated with Alessandro Calbucci and Marco Garavini winning the men's doubles and Federica Bacchetta and Sofia Cimatti the women's doubles. The ITF Pro Circuits saw an increase on the Men's Circuit of tournaments and prize money but, while the number of Women's Circuit events increased, the prize money fell slightly. The ITF has undertaken a detailed review of professional tennis below Tour level. Using an analysis of prize money earned and average costs (before coaching) it is clear that not enough players are able to cover their costs. The ITF will announce in 2015 our plans for the future for Pro Circuits. Ninety-eight per cent of Pro Circuit tournaments have been covered with the Pro Circuit live scoring service, provided by the ITF's Official Data Partner, Sportradar AG. The ITF Development Department approaches its responsibility of developing the game of tennis around the world in many ways, from coaches' education to assisting talented juniors to progress through travel grants or a place on one of our touring teams. This year, the Grand Slams generously agreed to contribute additional funding to the Grand Slam Development Fund, bringing their total contribution to over $2 million annually. Iryna Shymanovich, who won gold and silver medals at the Youth Olympic Games, is just one of the successful ITF/GSDF team members in 2014. Tennis iCoach, an on-line tool for coaches, has shown significant growth in 2014 with their visitors up by 25 per cent and page views by 50 per cent. One of the most important events of every year is the ITF's Annual General Meeting. This year we travelled to Dubai in September where some important governance changes including term limits for the President and Board as well as a stronger eligibility rule for both Davis Cup and Fed Cup were passed. The ITF's highest honour, the Philippe Chatrier Award, was presented in 2014 to Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde of Australia, while Heide Orth of Germany was honoured as the most decorated senior women's player in history. Both were presented at the ITF World Champions Dinner, held every year in Paris. REVIEW OF THE YEAR BY ITF PRESIDENT FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI

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