Decision-making process for ITF Beach Tennis
In this article we present an overview of the decision-making process for the ITF Beach Tennis tour. The ITF is the international federation who is responsible for the sport.
Overview of the ITF structure
Since 2008 the ITF (International Tennis Federation) is also the governing body of Beach Tennis worldwide. The stakeholders of the ITF are the National Tennis Federations, such as CBT in Brazil, FITP in Italy, USTA in USA, or DTB in Germany and many others. In total the ITF has 210 so-called “member nations” that are in charge of developing Tennis in their countries. Unfortunately, this number is not as high in Beach Tennis as it is in Tennis (yet!). Most national federations are subdivided into various regional federations.
We have a bit less than 4.000 players who are competing on the ITF Beach Tennis Tour worldwide from 75 nations, and 35 different nations also organized events in 2023.
But how are decisions made inside the ITF for the Beach Tennis tour?
All players who actively participate in tournaments on the ITF Tour can give ideas and feedback to the ITF Beach Tennis Player Council (PC). The PC has meetings with the ITF several times a year, mostly online, but sometimes also at major tournaments. With the help of feedback from all players, the PC decides on the most important issues, which are then discussed directly with the ITF. The Chairman, Vini Font, is in constant contact with Iain Smith throughout the year to discuss ongoing topics.
The ITF Beach Tennis Committee also has a few online meetings per year and receives suggestions from the ITF for improvements on the tour. In the end, the committee decides on the actual rule changes with the help of the ITF.
It’s a bit complicated and confusing 🤯
Hopefully the following graphic will help you to understand the connections a little more easily.
If you are interested to get more information about the ITF, you can find them here.