Before fully diving in to the rules of tennis, I couldn’t resist spending a little more time on the history of the ITF if only for the sheer entertainment value. My source for the information is from a book which is fully and properly cited at the end of this post, but for which the author has earned a special shout out for the specific chapter title, which is “Lawn Tennis: The Sturdy Bastard.” That’s a five star chapter name if there ever was one.
Duane Williams, an American who was living in Geneva at the time, is generally credited as the source of the idea to form an international governing body for lawn tennis. What is not at all clear is exactly what was proposed. Some versions of the story are that he proposed an international governing body much as the ITF exists today. Other sources indicate that he merely proposed an international clay court championship which prompted the recognition that an international governing body was needed.
In any case, the International Lawn Tennis Federation (later changed to International Tennis Federation) was founded in March of 1913 in France at the headquarters of the Union des Societes Francaises de Sports Athletiques, a location that was described as “not exactly splendid” by the participants. I don’t know exactly why, but the fact that the participants complained about the facility makes me happy.
In an unfortunate side note, Duane Williams did not live to see his idea (whatever it actually was) come to fruition because he was on the casualty list from the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. It is possible that the Titanic almost took out the global growth of tennis as a sport. Let’s take a moment for that to sink in. (I am sorry to say, pun intended.)
13 nations participated in the initial forming of the ILTF with the United States being conspicuous by its absence in a dispute over the number of delegates that each country was allotted based on it’s “importance” in the tennis world. At inception, England was awarded six votes and the exclusive rights to host the “World Championships.” The United States was unwilling to agree to that extravagance.
The United States was brought into the fold in 1923 in a deal that involved England giving up the sixth vote and recognition of the official championships of the four primary members: England, France, Australia, and the United States. Modern tennis fans will recognize this as the root of the four majors.
At the same time that the United States was brought into the ILTF, the England Lawn Tennis Association transferred stewardship of the rules inherited from the All England Club to the ILTF with the stipulation that that the rules were to always be printed in the English language which established it as the lingua franca of the game.
Sources:
- Gillmeister, H. (2017). Tennis a cultural history. Sheffield, UK: Equinox.
