International Tennis Federation

Tennis début at the Olympic Games came at its inaugural Athinai 1896 edition, where men’s singles and doubles events were contested. The second edition of the Games at Paris 1900 already included events for women tennis players. The 1900 International Lawn Tennis Challenge was the first edition of what is now known as the Davis Cup, the premier international team event in men’s tennis.

The governing body of the sport was founded as the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) on 1 March 1913, in Paris, France, with 15 founding members: Australasia (Australia and New Zealand), Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. The Federation Cup (nowadays known as the Billie Jean King Cup), was launched in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the federation, as the women’s equivalent to the men’s Davis Cup.

The federation was renamed as the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in 1977. After a 64-year absence, tennis made a successful return to the Olympics as a full-medal sport at Seoul 1988, in the year of the ITF’s 75th anniversary.

Tennis has also been part of the programme of the Youth Summer Olympics since its inaugural Singapore 2010 edition, with events for boys and girls.

The ITF also governs the disciplines of wheelchair tennis and beach tennis. Wheelchair tennis débuted at the Summer Paralympics at Barcelona 1992, and it has been played at all four Grand Slam tournaments since 2007. Previously governed by the International Federation of Beach Tennis (IFBT), beach tennis has been under the wing of the ITF since 2008. The first edition of the Beach Tennis World Championships was staged at the historic Foro Italico in Roma, Italy, in 2009.

As of January 2026, the ITF has 214 affiliated member nations. The federation is based in London, Great Britain, and its current president is USA’s David Haggerty. The ITF intends to change its name to World Tennis during the year 2026, as was voted in the governing body’s annual general meeting on 16 October 2025.

Note: Chairmen between 1913-1938 are not known.