World Tennis (formerly 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,2026 ITF Constitution, p.43, Rule 24.1.3 and also considering team events such as the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King 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.ITF Constitution, p.53 Appendix E It is sometimes named the "Player of the Year" award, alluding to similar other year-end awards in tennis.
Rules and procedures The World Tennis constitution states that no tennis tournament can be designated the "World Championships" without unanimous consent of the World Tennis Council.ITF Constitution, p.29: Article 29(a) There is currently no such tournament. From its 1913 foundation until 1923, World Tennis (then called the ILTF) recognised Wimbledon as the World Grass Court Championships and tournaments in France as the World Hard Court Championships and World Covered Court Championships. The United States National Lawn Tennis Association refused to join the ILTF until this Eurocentric situation was changed, so in 1923 the World Championships were abolished, and subsequently the most prestigious ILTF designation has been "Official Championships", for the four Grand Slam tournaments. The International Olympic Committee removed tennis from the Olympics for several reasons, including the implication that the Olympic tennis champion was not an officially recognised world champion. (Tennis returned at the 1988 Summer Olympics.)
The World Tennis constitution also states:2026 ITF Constitution, p.44 Regulation 26.1 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 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] will carry the most weight in the determination of the 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.ITF Constitution, Appendix E, pp.53, 60
The world champion accolade has been extended by World Tennis to wheelchair tennis players of the Men's and Women's division since 1991 and also based on world ranking. In November 2017, World Tennis announced that the quad wheelchair tennis division is to be recognised in its annual list of 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 World Tennis' highest accolade and is named after the French player Philippe Chatrier, who was President of the governing body between 1977 and 1991.
The 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 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 World Tennis' (then known as 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.
Other instances when World Tennis' choices differed from the ATP rankings are 1978, with Bjorn Borg being favoured over Jimmy Connors; 1982, with Connors favoured over McEnroe; 1989, with Boris Becker favoured over Lendl; 2013 with Novak Djokovic favoured over Rafael Nadal; 2022 with Nadal favoured over Carlos Alcaraz; and 2025 with Jannik Sinner favoured over Alcaraz.
YearPlayer 1978 Björn Borg 1979 Björn Borg 1980 Björn Borg 1981 John McEnroe 1982 Jimmy Connors 1983 John McEnroe 1984 John McEnroe 1985 Ivan Lendl 1986 Ivan Lendl 1987 Ivan Lendl 1988 Mats Wilander 1989 Boris Becker 1990 Ivan Lendl 1991 Stefan Edberg 1992 Jim Courier 1993 Pete Sampras 1994 Pete Sampras 1995 Pete Sampras 1996 Pete Sampras 1997 Pete Sampras 1998 Pete Sampras 1999 Andre Agassi 2000 Gustavo Kuerten 2001 Lleyton Hewitt 2002 Lleyton Hewitt 2003 Andy Roddick 2004 Roger Federer 2005 Roger Federer 2006 Roger Federer 2007 Roger Federer 2008 Rafael Nadal 2009 Roger Federer 2010 Rafael Nadal 2011 Novak Djokovic 2012 Novak Djokovic 2013 Novak Djokovic 2014 Novak Djokovic 2015 Novak Djokovic 2016 Andy Murray 2017 Rafael Nadal 2018 Novak Djokovic 2019 Rafael Nadal 2020 No award due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Novak Djokovic 2022 Rafael Nadal 2023 Novak Djokovic 2024 Jannik Sinner 2025 Jannik Sinner
TotalPlayer 8 6 5 4 3 2 1
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.
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).
YearPlayer 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) 2025 Aryna Sabalenka (2)
Total Player 7 6 3 2 Iga Świątek Aryna Sabalenka1 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Lindsay Davenport Jennifer Capriati Anastasia Myskina Kim Clijsters Jelena Janković Caroline Wozniacki Petra Kvitová Angelique Kerber Garbiñe Muguruza Simona Halep
Doubles Men's doubles Year Player 1996 Todd Woodbridge & Mark Woodforde1997 Todd Woodbridge (2) & Mark Woodforde (2)1998 Jacco Eltingh & Paul Haarhuis1999 Mahesh Bhupathi & Leander Paes 2000 Todd Woodbridge (3) & Mark Woodforde (3)2001 Jonas Björkman & Todd Woodbridge (4)2002 Mark Knowles & Daniel Nestor2003 Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan2004 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 2020 No 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) 2025 Marcel Granollers & Horacio Zeballos
Women's doubles Year Player 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) 2020 No 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 2025 Sara Errani (5) & Jasmine Paolini (2)
Junior Boys' combined (2004– ) Year Player 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 2020 No award due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Shang Juncheng 2022 Gilles-Arnaud Bailly 2023 João Fonseca 2024 Nicolai Budkov Kjær 2025 Ivan Ivanov
Girls' combined (2004– ) Year Player 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 2020 No award due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Petra Marčinko 2022 Lucie Havlíčková 2023 Alina Korneeva 2024 Emerson Jones 2025 Kristina Penickova
Singles (1978–2003) Boys' singles