# ITF World Champions

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) designates a World Champion each year based on its own majority opinion of performances throughout the year, emphasizing the Grand Slam tournaments, and also considering team events such as the Davis Cup and Fed Cup. Men's and women's singles champions were first named in 1978; the title is now also awarded for doubles, wheelchair, and junior players. It is sometimes named the "ITF Player of the Year" award, alluding to similar other year-end awards in tennis.

## Rules and procedures

The ITF's constitution states that no tennis tournament can be designated the "World Championships" without unanimous consent of the ITF Council. There is currently no such tournament. The constitution also states:
    The ITF may award the title of World Champion to players who, in the opinion of the Board of Directors, are the most outstanding players in any one-year. The names of players who have been awarded this title shall be listed in the Roll of Honour.
The opinion of the Board of Directors is taken to be equivalent to the majority opinions of the members of the Board.
It also states:
    Official Tennis Championships [i.e. the Grand Slam events] shall be the decisive factor in the determination of the ITF World Champions for each year.
The boys' and girls' singles and doubles titles prior to 2003 were awarded based on world ranking. Since then singles and doubles rankings have been combined in a single award each for boys and for girls.
The world champion accolade has been extended by the ITF to wheelchair tennis players of the Men's and Women's division since 1991 and also based on world ranking. In November 2017, the ITF announced that the quad wheelchair tennis division is to be recognised in its annual list of ITF World Champions.
In 1996, the Philippe Chatrier Award was introduced, honouring individuals or organisations who have made outstanding contributions to tennis globally, both on and off the court. The award is considered to be the ITF's highest accolade and is named after the former French tennis player Philippe Chatrier, who was President of the governing body between 1977 and 1991.
The ITF World Champions Dinner takes place annually to honour the previous year's champions, who are presented with a trophy, but not any monetary prize. The dinner was held during the French Open up until 2022, but since 2023 has been held during Wimbledon.
For 2020 there were no ITF World Champion awards given due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tennis season was suspended for about 5 months for both the female and the male tennis players.

## Men's singles

The first men's panel in 1978 had three members, Don Budge, Fred Perry, and Lew Hoad, who attended the season's Grand Slam events at ITF expense to inform their choice. The 1983 panel split two to one between John McEnroe (votes of Budge and Perry) and Mats Wilander (vote of Hoad). The 1984 panel had five members, while the 1985 panel had four: Budge, Perry, Hoad, and Tony Trabert. When Ivan Lendl was chosen as champion for 1985, the panel's announcement was accompanied with a rebuke for Lendl's criticism of some tournaments and his refusal to play in the Davis Cup. Perry and Trabert were on the 1986 panel, with performances outside the Grand Slams taken into consideration.
The 1990 designation of Lendl as champion was a surprise. That year, the Association of Tennis Professionals named Stefan Edberg its "Player of The Year", in accordance with the ATP rankings, while Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Edberg first, Andre Agassi second, and Lendl third. Tennis also suggested the ITF was punishing Edberg for denigrating the Grand Slam Cup tournament it had introduced. The ITF panel, of Perry, Trabert, and Frank Sedgman, called it "the toughest decision any of us can remember having to make", and stated it was Lendl's better average performance in the Grand Slams that made the difference.
The choice to award Djokovic the ITF World Champion of 2013 over Nadal was unexpected. Nadal finished the year ranked #1 and with more Grand Slams (2 to 1), more Masters titles (5 to 3), and more tournament titles (10 to 7). Similar to the situation with Edberg in 1990, the ITF cited Nadal's failure to win a match at 2 of the 4 Grand Slams (DNP the Australian Open, 1st round loss at Wimbledon) to justify their decision and Djokovic's consistent results across all four Grand Slams (1 title, 2 runner-ups, 1 SF), Davis Cup (led Serbia to final, won 7/7 singles rubbers) and the ATP World Tour Finals (won title).
Other instances when the ITF choices differed from the ATP rankings are 1978 (Jimmy Connors), 1982 (McEnroe), 1989 (Lendl), and 2022 (Carlos Alcaraz). None of these were controversial, with the 1978 and 1982 choices being particularly clear cut in favor of Borg (1978) and Connors (1982). Nadal won in 2022, despite Alcaraz being the year-end number 1; Nadal won two Grand Slam titles, while Alcaraz failed to reach the semi-final stage in three of four Grand Slams.
| Year | Player |
| 1978 | Björn Borg |
| 1979 | Björn Borg (2) |
| 1980 | Björn Borg (3) |
| 1981 | John McEnroe |
| 1982 | Jimmy Connors |
| 1983 | John McEnroe (2) |
| 1984 | John McEnroe (3) |
| 1985 | Ivan Lendl |
| 1986 | Ivan Lendl (2) |
| 1987 | Ivan Lendl (3) |
| 1988 | Mats Wilander |
| 1989 | Boris Becker |
| 1990 | Ivan Lendl (4) |
| 1991 | Stefan Edberg |
| 1992 | Jim Courier |
| 1993 | Pete Sampras |
| 1994 | Pete Sampras (2) |
| 1995 | Pete Sampras (3) |
| 1996 | Pete Sampras (4) |
| 1997 | Pete Sampras (5) |
| 1998 | Pete Sampras (6) |
| 1999 | Andre Agassi |
| 2000 | Gustavo Kuerten |
| 2001 | Lleyton Hewitt |
| 2002 | Lleyton Hewitt (2) |
| 2003 | Andy Roddick |
| 2004 | Roger Federer |
| 2005 | Roger Federer (2) |
| 2006 | Roger Federer (3) |
| 2007 | Roger Federer (4) |
| 2008 | Rafael Nadal |
| 2009 | Roger Federer (5) |
| 2010 | Rafael Nadal (2) |
| 2011 | Novak Djokovic |
| 2012 | Novak Djokovic (2) |
| 2013 | Novak Djokovic (3) |
| 2014 | Novak Djokovic (4) |
| 2015 | Novak Djokovic (5) |
| 2016 | Andy Murray |
| 2017 | Rafael Nadal (3) |
| 2018 | Novak Djokovic (6) |
| 2019 | Rafael Nadal (4) |
| 2020 | No award due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 | Novak Djokovic (7) |
| 2022 | Rafael Nadal (5) |
| 2023 | Novak Djokovic (8) |
| 2024 | Jannik Sinner |
| Total | Player |
| 8 | Novak Djokovic (SRB) |
| 6 | Pete Sampras (USA) |
| 5 | Roger Federer (SUI) |
| 5 | Rafael Nadal (ESP) |
| 4 | Ivan Lendl (TCH) |
| 3 | Björn Borg (SWE) |
| 3 | John McEnroe (USA) |
| 2 | Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) |
| 1 | Jimmy Connors (USA) |
| 1 | Mats Wilander (SWE) |
| 1 | Boris Becker (GER) |
| 1 | Stefan Edberg (SWE) |
| 1 | Jim Courier (USA) |
| 1 | Andre Agassi (USA) |
| 1 | Gustavo Kuerten (BRA) |
| 1 | Andy Roddick (USA) |
| 1 | Andy Murray (GBR) |
| 1 | Jannik Sinner (ITA) |

## Women's singles

The women's panel initially featured three former women's champions, Margaret Court, Margaret duPont and Ann Jones. Althea Gibson was a member through the early 1980s.
ITF world champions for women differed from the WTA year-end rankings the following years: 1978 (Martina Navratilova), 1994 (Steffi Graf), 2001 (Lindsay Davenport), 2004 (Lindsay Davenport), 2005 (Lindsay Davenport), 2011 (Caroline Wozniacki), 2012 (Victoria Azarenka), 2017 (Simona Halep), 2023 (Iga Świątek), 2024 (Aryna Sabalenka).
| Year | Player |
| 1978 | Chris Evert |
| 1979 | Martina Navratilova |
| 1980 | Chris Evert (2) |
| 1981 | Chris Evert (3) |
| 1982 | Martina Navratilova (2) |
| 1983 | Martina Navratilova (3) |
| 1984 | Martina Navratilova (4) |
| 1985 | Martina Navratilova (5) |
| 1986 | Martina Navratilova (6) |
| 1987 | Steffi Graf |
| 1988 | Steffi Graf (2) |
| 1989 | Steffi Graf (3) |
| 1990 | Steffi Graf (4) |
| 1991 | Monica Seles |
| 1992 | Monica Seles (2) |
| 1993 | Steffi Graf (5) |
| 1994 | Arantxa Sánchez Vicario |
| 1995 | Steffi Graf (6) |
| 1996 | Steffi Graf (7) |
| 1997 | Martina Hingis |
| 1998 | Lindsay Davenport |
| 1999 | Martina Hingis (2) |
| 2000 | Martina Hingis (3) |
| 2001 | Jennifer Capriati |
| 2002 | Serena Williams |
| 2003 | Justine Henin |
| 2004 | Anastasia Myskina |
| 2005 | Kim Clijsters |
| 2006 | Justine Henin (2) |
| 2007 | Justine Henin (3) |
| 2008 | Jelena Janković |
| 2009 | Serena Williams (2) |
| 2010 | Caroline Wozniacki |
| 2011 | Petra Kvitová |
| 2012 | Serena Williams (3) |
| 2013 | Serena Williams (4) |
| 2014 | Serena Williams (5) |
| 2015 | Serena Williams (6) |
| 2016 | Angelique Kerber |
| 2017 | Garbiñe Muguruza |
| 2018 | Simona Halep |
| 2019 | Ashleigh Barty |
| 2020 | No award due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 | Ashleigh Barty (2) |
| 2022 | Iga Świątek |
| 2023 | Aryna Sabalenka |
| 2024 | Iga Świątek (2) |
| Total | Player |
| 7 | Steffi Graf (GER) |
| 6 | Martina Navratilova (USA) |
| 6 | Serena Williams (USA) |
| 3 | Chris Evert (USA) |
| 3 | Martina Hingis (SUI) |
| 3 | Justine Henin (BEL) |
| 2 | Monica Seles (YUG) |
| 2 | Ashleigh Barty (AUS) |
| 2 | Iga Świątek |
| 1 | Arantxa Sánchez Vicario |
| 1 | Lindsay Davenport |
| 1 | Jennifer Capriati |
| 1 | Anastasia Myskina |
| 1 | Kim Clijsters |
| 1 | Jelena Janković |
| 1 | Caroline Wozniacki |
| 1 | Petra Kvitová |
| 1 | Angelique Kerber |
| 1 | Garbiñe Muguruza |
| 1 | Simona Halep |
| 1 | Aryna Sabalenka |

## Doubles

| Men's doubles YearPlayer 1996 Todd Woodbridge & Mark Woodforde 1997 Todd Woodbridge (2) & Mark Woodforde (2) 1998 Jacco Eltingh & Paul Haarhuis 1999 Mahesh Bhupathi & Leander Paes 2000 Todd Woodbridge (3) & Mark Woodforde (3) 2001 Jonas Björkman & Todd Woodbridge (4) 2002 Mark Knowles & Daniel Nestor 2003 Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan 2004 Bob Bryan (2) & Mike Bryan (2) 2005 Bob Bryan (3) & Mike Bryan (3) 2006 Bob Bryan (4) & Mike Bryan (4) 2007 Bob Bryan (5) & Mike Bryan (5) 2008 Daniel Nestor (2) & Nenad Zimonjić 2009 Bob Bryan (6) & Mike Bryan (6) 2010 Bob Bryan (7) & Mike Bryan (7) 2011 Bob Bryan (8) & Mike Bryan (8) 2012 Bob Bryan (9) & Mike Bryan (9) 2013 Bob Bryan (10) & Mike Bryan (10) 2014 Bob Bryan (11) & Mike Bryan (11) 2015 Jean-Julien Rojer & Horia Tecău 2016 Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares 2017 Łukasz Kubot & Marcelo Melo 2018 Mike Bryan (12) & Jack Sock 2019 Juan Sebastián Cabal & Robert Farah 2020No award due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Nikola Mektić & Mate Pavić 2022 Joe Salisbury & Rajeev Ram 2023 Joe Salisbury (2) & Rajeev Ram (2) 2024 Marcelo Arévalo & Mate Pavić (2) | Women's doubles YearPlayer 1996 Lindsay Davenport & Mary Joe Fernández 1997 Lindsay Davenport (2) & Jana Novotná 1998 Lindsay Davenport (3) & Natasha Zvereva 1999 Martina Hingis & Anna Kournikova 2000 Julie Halard-Decugis & Ai Sugiyama 2001 Lisa Raymond & Rennae Stubbs 2002 Virginia Ruano Pascual & Paola Suárez 2003 Virginia Ruano Pascual (2) & Paola Suárez (2) 2004 Virginia Ruano Pascual (3) & Paola Suárez (3) 2005 Lisa Raymond (2) & Samantha Stosur 2006 Lisa Raymond (3) & Samantha Stosur (2) 2007 Cara Black & Liezel Huber 2008 Cara Black (2) & Liezel Huber (2) 2009 Serena Williams & Venus Williams 2010 Gisela Dulko & Flavia Pennetta 2011 Květa Peschke & Katarina Srebotnik 2012 Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci 2013 Sara Errani (2) & Roberta Vinci (2) 2014 Sara Errani (3) & Roberta Vinci (3) 2015 Martina Hingis (2) & Sania Mirza 2016 Caroline Garcia & Kristina Mladenovic 2017 Martina Hingis (3) & Chan Yung-jan 2018 Barbora Krejčíková & Kateřina Siniaková 2019 Tímea Babos & Kristina Mladenovic (2) 2020No award due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Barbora Krejčíková (2) & Kateřina Siniaková (2) 2022 Barbora Krejčíková (3) & Kateřina Siniaková (3) 2023 Storm Hunter & Elise Mertens 2024 Sara Errani (4) & Jasmine Paolini |

## Junior

| Boys' combined (2004– ) YearPlayer 2004 Gaël Monfils 2005 Donald Young 2006 Thiemo de Bakker 2007 Ričardas Berankis 2008 Yang Tsung-hua 2009 Daniel Berta 2010 Juan Sebastián Gómez 2011 Jiří Veselý 2012 Filip Peliwo 2013 Alexander Zverev 2014 Andrey Rublev 2015 Taylor Fritz 2016 Miomir Kecmanović 2017 Axel Geller 2018 Tseng Chun-hsin 2019 Thiago Agustin Tirante 2020No award due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Shang Juncheng 2022 Gilles-Arnaud Bailly 2023 João Fonseca 2024 Nicolai Budkov Kjær | Girls' combined (2004– ) YearPlayer 2004 Michaëlla Krajicek 2005 Victoria Azarenka 2006 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 2007 Urszula Radwańska 2008 Noppawan Lertcheewakarn 2009 Kristina Mladenovic 2010 Daria Gavrilova 2011 Irina Khromacheva 2012 Taylor Townsend 2013 Belinda Bencic 2014 Catherine "CiCi" Bellis 2015 Dalma Gálfi 2016 Anastasia Potapova 2017 Whitney Osuigwe 2018 Clara Burel 2019 Diane Parry 2020No award due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Petra Marčinko 2022 Lucie Havlíčková 2023 Alina Korneeva 2024 Emerson Jones |

### Singles (1978–2003)

| Boys' singles YearPlayer 1978 Ivan Lendl 1979 Raúl Viver 1980 Thierry Tulasne 1981 Pat Cash 1982 Guy Forget 1983 Stefan Edberg 1984 Mark Kratzmann 1985 Claudio Pistolesi 1986 Javier Sánchez 1987 Jason Stoltenberg 1988 Nicolás Pereira 1989 Nicklas Kulti 1990 Andrea Gaudenzi 1991 Thomas Enqvist 1992 Brian Dunn 1993 Marcelo Ríos 1994 Federico Browne 1995 Mariano Zabaleta 1996 Sébastien Grosjean 1997 Arnaud Di Pasquale 1998 Roger Federer 1999 Kristian Pless 2000 Andy Roddick 2001 Gilles Müller 2002 Richard Gasquet 2003 Marcos Baghdatis | Girls' singles YearPlayer 1978 Hana Mandlíková 1979 Mary-Lou Piatek 1980 Susan Mascarin 1981 Zina Garrison 1982 Gretchen Rush 1983 Pascale Paradis 1984 Gabriela Sabatini 1985 Laura Garrone 1986 Patricia Tarabini 1987 Natalia Zvereva 1988 Cristina Tessi 1989 Florencia Labat 1990 Karina Habšudová 1991 Zdeňka Málková 1992 Rossana de los Ríos 1993 Nino Louarsabishvili 1994 Martina Hingis 1995 Anna Kournikova 1996 Amélie Mauresmo 1997 Cara Black 1998 Jelena Dokić 1999 Lina Krasnoroutskaya 2000 María Emilia Salerni 2001 Svetlana Kuznetsova 2002 Barbora Strýcová 2003 Kirsten Flipkens |

### Doubles (1978–2003)

| Boys' doubles YearPlayer 1982 Fernando Pérez Pascal 1983 Mark Kratzmann 1984 Agustín Moreno 1985 Petr Korda & Cyril Suk 1986 Tomás Carbonell 1987 Jason Stoltenberg 1988 David Rikl & Tomáš Anzari 1989 Wayne Ferreira 1990 Mårten Renström 1991 Karim Alami 1992 Enrique Abaroa 1993 Steven Downs 1994 Benjamin Ellwood 1995 Kepler Orellana 1996 Sébastien Grosjean 1997 Nicolás Massú 1998 José de Armas 1999 Julien Benneteau & Nicolas Mahut 2000 Lee Childs & James Nelson 2001 Bruno Echagaray & Santiago González 2002 Florin Mergea & Horia Tecău 2003 Scott Oudsema | Girls' doubles YearPlayer 1982 Beth Herr 1983 Larisa Savchenko 1984 Mercedes Paz 1985 Mariana Perez-Roldan & Patricia Tarabini 1986 Leila Meskhi 1987 Natalia Medvedeva 1988 Jo-Anne Faull 1989 Andrea Strnadová 1990 Karina Habšudová 1991 Eva Martincová 1992 Nancy Feber & Laurence Courtois 1993 Cristina Moros 1994 Martina Nedelkova 1995 Ludmila Varmuzova 1996 Jitka Schönfeldová & Michaela Paštiková 1997 Irina Selyutina & Cara Black 1998 Eva Dyrberg 1999 Daniela Bedáňová 2000 María Emilia Salerni 2001 Petra Cetkovská 2002 Elke Clijsters 2003 Andrea Hlaváčková |

## Wheelchair

| Men's wheelchair YearPlayer 1991 Randy Snow 1992 Laurent Giammartini 1993 Kai Schramayer 1994 Laurent Giammartini (2) 1995 David Hall 1996 Ricky Molier 1997 Ricky Molier (2) 1998 David Hall (2) 1999 Stephen Welch 2000 David Hall (3) 2001 Ricky Molier (3) 2002 David Hall (4) 2003 David Hall (5) 2004 David Hall (6) 2005 Michaël Jeremiasz 2006 Robin Ammerlaan 2007 Shingo Kunieda 2008 Shingo Kunieda (2) 2009 Shingo Kunieda (3) 2010 Shingo Kunieda (4) 2011 Maikel Scheffers 2012 Stéphane Houdet 2013 Shingo Kunieda (5) 2014 Shingo Kunieda (6) 2015 Shingo Kunieda (7) 2016 Gordon Reid 2017 Gustavo Fernández 2018 Shingo Kunieda (8) 2019 Gustavo Fernández (2) 2020No award due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Shingo Kunieda (9) 2022 Shingo Kunieda (10) 2023 Alfie Hewett 2024 Tokito Oda | Women's wheelchair YearPlayer 1991 Chantal Vandierendonck 1992 Monique Van Den Bosch 1993 Monique Kalkman (2) 1994 Monique Kalkman (3) 1995 Monique Kalkman (4) 1996 Chantal Vandierendonck (2) 1997 Chantal Vandierendonck (3) 1998 Daniela Di Toro 1999 Daniela Di Toro (2) 2000 Esther Vergeer 2001 Esther Vergeer (2) 2002 Esther Vergeer (3) 2003 Esther Vergeer (4) 2004 Esther Vergeer (5) 2005 Esther Vergeer (6) 2006 Esther Vergeer (7) 2007 Esther Vergeer (8) 2008 Esther Vergeer (9) 2009 Esther Vergeer (10) 2010 Esther Vergeer (11) 2011 Esther Vergeer (12) 2012 Esther Vergeer (13) 2013 Aniek van Koot 2014 Yui Kamiji 2015 Jiske Griffioen 2016 Jiske Griffioen (2) 2017 Yui Kamiji (2) 2018 Diede de Groot 2019 Diede de Groot (2) 2020No award due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Diede de Groot (3) 2022 Diede de Groot (4) 2023 Diede de Groot (5) 2024 Diede de Groot (6) |

### Quad's wheelchair

| Year | Player |
| 2017 | David Wagner |
| 2018 | Dylan Alcott |
| 2019 | Dylan Alcott (2) |
| 2020 | No award due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 | Dylan Alcott (3) |
| 2022 | Niels Vink |
| 2023 | Niels Vink (2) |
| 2024 | Sam Schröder |