The 2001 Annual General Meeting of the International Tennis Federation in Cancun, Mexico concluded today with the election of the Board of Directors who will serve the ITF until the 2003 AGM.
Elected were: Geoff Pollard (AUS); Ian King (GBR); Juan Margets (ESP); Eiichi Kawatei (JPN); Mervin Heller (USA); Christian Bimes (FRA); Eduardo Moline O’Connor (ARG); Julia Levering (USA); Jan Carlzon (SWE); Paul Chingoka (ZIM); Georg von Waldenfels (GER) and Ruurd de Boer (NED). Heller, Carlzon, Chingoka and von Waldenfels are new members of the ITF Board.
Juan Margets was re-elected as ITF Executive Vice President while David Jude was confirmed as Honorary Treasurer of the ITF.
ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti welcomed the new members of the Board of Directors and thanked out-going members Ishmail El Shafei (EGY), Jan Francke (SWE), Heinz Grimm (SUI) and Harry Marmion (USA) for their loyalty and dedication to the ITF. At the first meeting of the new Board of Directors, Ricci Bitti announced that his Vice Presidents would be the three Grand Slam Chairmen on the Board, Geoff Pollard (AUS), Christian Bimes (FRA) and Mervin Heller (USA).
Retiring board member Francke was voted as an Honorary Life Counsellor of the ITF along with Fathi Farah of Tunisia and Walter Elcock of the United States.
Eighty-four nations attended the Annual General Meeting, a number limited by the difficult travel conditions due to the crisis in the United States. Out of respect for the families of the missing, injured and dead, the Assembly had a moment of silence following remarks by the ITF President who offered the condolences of the ITF on this tragic occasion. Mr. Ricci Bitti also remarked on the death of Jaroslav Drobny, one of our sport’s greatest heroes.
The AGM voted to accept an application by the Kyrgyzstan Tennis Federation to become a class B member of the International Tennis Federation.
The AGM also voted overwhelmingly to approve several amendments to the Rules of Tennis including a recommendation by the Rules of Tennis Committee to approve three different types of ball intended for play according to the pace of the surface: Ball Type 1 (Fast Speed); Ball Type 2 (Medium Speed) and Ball Type 3 (Slow Speed).
Ricci Bitti said of the decision, ‘I want to congratulate the AGM for their approval of this important amendment and thank the tennis ball manufacturers for their support during the experimental period and in the run-up to the AGM.’
The AGM also approved an experiment until 31 December 2002 on the deciding Super Tie Break game. The Super Tie Break is played when a match is either one set all or two sets all (in a best of five sets match) and replaces the deciding final set. The player who first wins ten points is the winner of this super tie break provided he leads by a margin of two points.
In the Key Issues Session held earlier in the week, the assembled nations overwhelmingly approved an initiative to require team uniforms in national colours for Davis Cup, Fed Cup and other international team competitions. In 2002, the ITF is asking the nations to co-operate with this initiative and will propose to the 2002 AGM a rule change to make team uniforms in national colours compulsory.
The AGM also gave the ITF a mandate to amend the current Fed Cup format for 2002 to include a sixteen nation World Group. Plans for this format will be announced in due course. The AGM confirmed that Morocco will host the 2002 ITF Annual General Meeting.
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