On 15th December 2022, Rafael Nadal, Spanish Tennis Player, has been named the Men’s International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Champion 2022 for the 5th time after an outstanding 2022 season.
- Polish tennis player, Iga Świątek, has been named Women’s ITF World Champion 2022 for her performance in 2022 winning 2 Grand Slam titles and 8 titles.
ITF World Champion Awards 2022:
i. ITF World Champion Awards is annually presented under 4 categories,
- ITF Singles World Champions
- ITF Doubles World Champions
- ITF Wheelchair World Champions
- ITF Junior World Champions
ii. Rafael Nadal and Iga Świątek who won the award under the ITF Singles World Champions category are among 11 players who have been announced as ITF World Champions 2022.
iii. The winners will be honoured at the annual ITF World Champions Awards event which will be held on 8th July 2023 at Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom(UK). The event is usually held in Paris France.
Rafael Nadal:
i. Rafael Nadal won the Australian Open and Roland Garros and rose to the top spot in terms of men’s Grand Slam singles titles won.
- Previously, He has been named the men’s ITF World Champion in 2008, 2010, 2017 and 2019.
ii. He is the sole winner from Spain in the men’s singles division, joining Roger Federer in 3rd place for the most men’s ITF World Champion awards behind Novak Djokovic (7) and Pete Sampras (6).
iii. He compiled a 22-1 win-loss record at the majors and went 39-8 through the season.
Iga Swiatek:
i. Iga Swiatek has become the 1st Polish woman to be named an ITF World Champion and the 2nd Polish player in Singles World Champions.
- She was named the title by securing 2 Grand slam titles, collecting 8 titles and embarking on a 37-match winning streak through the 1st half of 2022.
- She topped the World Tennis Association (WTA) year-end rankings.
ii. Iga Swiatek is named the WTA Player of the Year after winning both the French and United States (US) Open in 2022.
iii. She is the 2nd Pole to win an ITF World Champion award in any category after Lukasz Kubot, who won the men’s doubles award in 2017.
ITF Doubles World Champions 2022:
i. Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova have been named ITF Women’s Doubles World Champions for the 2nd straight year and the 3rd time overall, having won the title in 2018 and 2021.
- They won 3 Grand Slam titles, winning at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open.
- They have become just the 5th and 6th players to win the ‘career Golden Slam’ in women’s doubles, after Pam Shriver, Gigi Fernandez and Serena Williams and Venus Williams.
ii. Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury have been named ITF Men’s Doubles World Champions for the 1st time.
- Rajeev Ram became the 4th American to receive the award (after 12-time winner Mike Bryan, 11-time winner Bob Bryan and 2018 winner Jack Sock)
- Joe Salisbury became the 2nd Brit to earn the accolade after Jamie Murray in 2016.
- The duo won their 3rd Grand Slam title together at the US Open and also won the ATP Finals title for the 1st time in November 2022.
About International Tennis Federation (ITF):
President- David Haggerty
Headquarters- London, United Kingdom (UK)
Establishment- 1913
