The ITA, the governing body of US college tennis, has announced that the World Tennis Number (WTN), developed by the International Tennis Federation, is now the exclusive rating of the ITA and of college tennis.
ITA CEO Timothy Russell explained that the international tennis ecosystem and the college tennis ecosystem are evolving. As it keeps giving college coaches the means to run dynamic tennis programs, the ITA continues to strengthen national and international partnerships, including technology platforms with built-in tools such as the WTN, which have the advantage of being universal.
What is the World Tennis Number?
The ITF's World Tennis Number provides a global rating standard for tennis players on a scale from 1 to 40: 40 is a beginner and 1 is a professional player. The scale applies to all players, whatever their age, gender or ability. Players have separate ITF World Tennis Numbers for singles and doubles.
At the time of the announcement, 1.4 million public ITF player profiles had already been published on worldtennisnumber.com, and 152 countries had signed an agreement with the ITF to join the WTN rating system.
ITF President David Haggerty pointed out that tennis is one of the most popular sports in the world, and that US college tennis is an important part of it: an ambitious goal for junior players worldwide and a possible pathway to professional tennis.
He congratulated the ITA on its leadership in developing college tennis and welcomed the partnership, which will let the two organizations grow the game together, in particular through the World Tennis Number and other shared initiatives in the future.
Bubba Cunningham, athletics director at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a new member of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, said that college tennis and the ITA are aligning with the ITF as the international governing body of tennis, a great benefit for their programs and student-athletes. He also highlighted the ITA's strong alliance with the USTA, the governing body of tennis in the USA, as a model of leadership for Olympic sports on American college campuses.
Craig Morris, the USTA's chief executive of community tennis, noted that the World Tennis Number, developed by the ITF and adopted by the USTA and 152 national tennis associations around the world, will support teams and coaches, as well as current and future student-athletes, and strengthen the place of tennis in college athletics programs.
Every college tennis player will receive a WTN, because the ITA shares college match results with the ITF.
WTNs are displayed on the worldtennisnumber.com website. Starting in February 2023, the ITA will also display college players' WTNs on their individual ITA profiles.
To learn how college tennis recruits and funds its players, see tennis scholarships in the USA.
