The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women and was founded to create a better future for women's tennis. The WTA's corporate headquarters is in St. Petersburg, Florida, with its European headquarters in London and its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Beijing.
Rodney George Laver, better known as Rod Laver, is an Australian former tennis player. He was the No. 1 ranked professional from 1964 to 1970, spanning four years before and three years after the start of the Open Era in 1968. He also was the No. 1 ranked amateur in 1961–62.
Frederick John "Fred" Perry was an English tennis and table tennis player and former World No. 1 who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slams and two Pro Slams single titles, as well as six Major doubles titles. Perry won three consecutive Wimbledon Championships from 1934 to 1936 and was World Amateur number one tennis player during those three years. Prior to Andy Murray in 2013, Perry was the last British player to win the men's Wimbledon championship, in 1936, and the last British player to win a men's singles Grand Slam title, until Andy Murray won the 2012 US Open.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national associations, and as of 2016, is affiliated with 211 national tennis associations and six regional associations.
The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is ITF Men's Circuit.
Byron Black is a former touring professional tennis and Davis Cup player for Zimbabwe.
Mark Raymond Woodforde, OAM is a former professional tennis player from Australia. He is best known as one half of "The Woodies", a doubles partnership with Todd Woodbridge.
The Grand Prix tennis circuit was a professional tennis tour for male players that existed from 1970 to 1989. It was the more prominent of two predecessors to the current tour for male players, the ATP Tour, the other being World Championship Tennis (WCT).
Joshua Eagle is a former professional male tennis player and current professional tennis coach from Australia. In January 2013 he was appointed as the Australian Davis Cup coach, having previously won Tennis Australia's elite coaching excellence award in 2012 for helping Australian Marinko Matosevic break into the top 50 from outside 200. He was born in Toowoomba, Queensland and now lives in Noosa, Queensland. He stands at 1.83 m and weighs 90 kg, and is classified as a doubles specialist. Eagle has won five ATP doubles titles.
The ITF Men's Circuit is a series of professional tennis tournaments held around the world that are organized by the International Tennis Federation. The circuit represents the lowest rung of the men's professional tennis ladder. ITF tournaments are incorporated into the ATP Rankings, enabling young professionals to progress on to the ATP Challenger Tour and ultimately the full ATP Tour. Nearly every professional player has spent some time on the ITF Men's Circuit.
The game that most people call 'Tennis' is the direct descendant of what is now known as real tennis or royal tennis. Most rules of the game commonly known as tennis derive from it. It is reasonable to see both sports as variations of the same game. Most historians believe that tennis originated in the monastic cloisters in northern France in the 12th century, but the ball was then struck with the palm of the hand; hence, the name jeu de paume. It was not until the 16th century that rackets came into use, and the game began to be called "tennis." It was popular in England and France, and Henry VIII of England was a big fan of the game, now referred to as real tennis.
Gastão José Ministro Elias is a Portuguese professional tennis player, who competes on the ATP World Tour. He became the fifth Portuguese tennis player to break into the top 100 of the Association of Tennis Professionals singles rankings. In October 2016, he reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 57 to become the second-highest-ranked Portuguese player, after João Sousa.
The Internazionali di Tennis del Friuli Venezia Giulia is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor red clay courts. It is currently part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Challenger Tour and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Women's Circuit. It is held annually at the A.S.D. Eurotennis Club in Cordenons, Italy, since 2004.
The 2016 WTA Tour was the elite professional tennis circuit organised by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for the 2016 tennis season. The 2016 WTA Tour calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments (supervised by the International Tennis Federation, the WTA Premier tournaments, the WTA International tournaments, the Fed Cup, the year-end championships. Also included in the 2016 calendar is the Summer Olympic Games and Hopman Cup, which were organized by the ITF and did not distribute ranking points.
The 2019 ATP Tour is the global elite men's professional tennis circuit organised by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for the 2019 tennis season. The 2019 ATP Tour calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments, the ATP Tour Masters 1000, the ATP Tour 500 series, the ATP Tour 250 series, the Davis Cup, and the ATP Finals. Also included in the 2019 calendar are the Hopman Cup, the Laver Cup and the Next Gen ATP Finals which do not distribute ranking points. For the Masters series events the ATP introduced a shot clock. Players have a minute to come on court, 5 minutes to warmup, and then a minute to commence play, as well as 25 seconds between points.
The 2019 WTA Tour is the elite professional tennis circuit organised by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for the 2019 tennis season. The 2019 WTA Tour calendar is composed of the Grand Slam tournaments (supervised by the International Tennis Federation, the WTA Premier tournaments, the WTA International tournaments, the Fed Cup, and the year-end championships. The Hopman Cup, organized by the ITF, also is included but does not distribute ranking points.
The 2020 ATP Tour is the global elite men's professional tennis circuit organised by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for the 2020 tennis season. The 2020 ATP Tour calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments, the ATP Finals, the ATP Tour Masters 1000, the ATP Cup, the ATP Tour 500 series, the ATP Tour 250 series, and the Davis Cup. Also included in the 2020 calendar are the tennis events at the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, Next Gen ATP Finals and Laver Cup, neither of which distributed ranking points.
