The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), the governing body and coaches association for college tennis, announces today that the International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tennis Number (WTN) is now the exclusive official rating of the ITA and college tennis.
“The international tennis eco-system and the landscape of American college athletics are both evolving,” said ITA Chief Executive Officer Dr. Timothy Russell. “In continuing to empower college tennis coaches at all levels to deliver vibrant tennis programs that are vital to their college communities and transformational for their student-athletes, our Association continues to strengthen national and international partnerships. These include integrated technology platforms and tools such as the WTN that provide benefit to our members and enhance tennis as one of the most vibrant college sports.”
The ITF World Tennis Number provides a global rating standard for tennis players using a 40-1 scale, with 40 being a beginner player and 1 being an elite professional. The scale is for all players, regardless of age, gender, or ability. Players will have separate ITF World Tennis Numbers for singles and doubles.
1.4 million public ITF player profiles have already been released on worldtennisnumber.com, and 152 countries have signed an agreement with the ITF to become part of the WTN rating system.
David Haggerty, ITF President, said: “Tennis is one of the three most popular sports globally. College tennis is a wonderfully important part of the sport, an aspirational goal for junior tennis players worldwide and a viable pathway to professional tennis. The ITF applauds the Intercollegiate Tennis Association for its outstanding leadership in our global enterprise and is very excited about the unifying vision for how together we can advance the game, especially in using the World Tennis Number as well as promoting other shared initiatives moving forward.”
Bubba Cunningham, Director of Athletics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a newly appointed member of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, said, “College tennis and the ITA being aligned with the ITF as the international governing body of the sport will be a great advantage to our programs and student-athletes. The ITA’s strong alliance with the USTA, as the governing body of tennis in America, is also being viewed in the arena of intercollegiate athletics and beyond as both a leadership model for today’s ever-changing landscape and a pre-eminent paradigm for the future success of Olympic sports on college campuses.”
Craig Morris, Chief Executive of Community Tennis of the United States Tennis Association (USTA), remarks that, “The World Tennis Number, as developed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and adopted by USTA and 152 tennis federations around the globe, will support college teams and coaches, as well as current and prospective student-athletes, and will enhance the consequential role of tennis within college and university athletic programs.”
The WTN is being used in the Player Development space as follows: (1) for ITF Juniors the WTN is the second acceptance criteria in ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Tournaments; (2) for ITF World Tennis Tour Events in the U.S. the WTN is being used to calculate the USTA’s Top 500 list; and, (3) as of 2023, the USTA has designated the WTN as the exclusive rating permitted for use in USTA junior tournaments. The WTN is now another option to be utilized to assist with seeding, selection, grouping, and flighting in junior tournaments around the country.
All college tennis players will receive a WTN, as the ITA shares college match results with the ITF. World Tennis Numbers are displayed on the worldtennisnumber.com website. Coming this month, the ITA will also display the World Tennis Numbers of college players on their individual ITA profiles, which will be found on the Teams section of the ITA website.
Follow the Spring 2023 college tennis season on the ITA website and ITA social channels on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
Find out more about the ITF by following @ITFTennis and @ITFMedia on Twitter, @ITFTennis on Instagram and International Tennis Federation on Facebook.
For more information about the USTA, go to USTA.com or follow the official accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
For ITA media inquiries contact: [email protected]
For USTA media inquiries contact: [email protected]
For ITF media queries contact: [email protected]
About the ITA – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) is the governing body and coaches association of college tennis, both an advocate and an authority for the sport and its members. Comprised of 1,260 colleges and universities, 20,000 student-athletes, 1,700 varsity programs, 3,000 coaches, and 1,350 college tennis officials, the ITA empowers college tennis coaches at all levels to deliver vibrant tennis programs that are vital to their college communities and transformational to their student-athletes.
The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and the leader in promoting and developing the growth of tennis at every level — from local communities to the highest level of the professional game. A not-for-profit organization, it invests 100% of its proceeds in growing the game. It owns and operates the US Open, one of the highest-attended annual sporting events in the world, and launched the US Open Series, linking seven summer WTA and ATP World Tour tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it owns approximately 120 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S. and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Billie Jean King Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. The USTA’s philanthropic entity, the USTA Foundation, provides grants and scholarships in addition to supporting tennis and education programs nationwide to benefit under-resourced youth through the National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) network.
About the ITF – The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the world governing body of tennis. Founded in 1913, its purpose is to ensure the long-term growth and sustainability of the sport, delivering tennis for future generations in association with its 213 member National Associations. The ITF oversees the rules and regulations that govern international and national competition. The ITF is responsible for the worldwide development of tennis through its highly regarded global Development Programme, its Science and Technical department which monitors equipment and technology, and its Officiating department which oversees the education and advancement of officials. The ITF organizes up to 1850 men’s, women’s, and junior tournaments on the ITF World Tennis Tour, and manages the ITF junior team competitions, ITF Beach Tennis World Tour, UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour and the ITF World Tennis Masters Tour. The ITF is the owner and rightsholder of the men’s and women’s World Cups of Tennis, Davis Cup by Rakuten and Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge respectively, the two largest annual international team competitions in tennis. The ITF manages the Olympic Tennis Event on behalf of the IOC and the Paralympic Tennis Event on behalf of the IPC and the Qualification Pathways for both events at the Games. For further information please visit www.itftennis.com.
