AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 20, 2003

Francesco Ricci Bitti

Dave Miley

Geoff Pollard

FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: Thank you. Thank you to be here. I'm very glad to be here on behalf of the International Tennis Federation to be here this morning for the launch of the ITN, that is an international tennis rating system put in place by a task force to try to improve the participation at all levels of our game. Today is a culmination of a long process. We started in the ITF in 1997 to think and to plan something to improve the participation at all levels of the game. We started with some thinking, some thoughts, that eventually become what we call now, and is perhaps better known as The Marketing of the Game Project. In 2000 we hosted in London The Marketing of the Game Summit where we gathered the representatives of the major tennis nations, the representatives of the tours and the representatives of the tennis industry. From this summit, some projects were identified as the most feasible, again, with the aim of increasing the participation to our sport. One of these projects was an international rating system. So a task force was put in place, led by Dave Miley here, the executive director for development in the International Tennis Federation, and with some people representing other nations' federations. The outcome of this work will be presented this morning. Dave will be much better than me in talking about the work that has been done and the plan for the future. But before handing over to him the microphone, I believe that I am very pleased to thank, and I express my appreciation to Tennis Australia and to its president Geoff Pollard, also vice president of the ITF, for its support, and to Peter Johnston for his contribution. Tennis Australia is the first country that has adopted the ITN as a rating system, and this is very important. We are very proud to be associated with this program in Australia. So thanks for being here. Dave, please.

DAVID MILEY: Thank you.

DAVID MILEY: Thank you very much, Francesco. I am happy to be here to launch the new international rating system for tennis. The rating system will be known as the International Tennis Number, or ITN for short. What is the ITN? The ITN is a number that represents the player's general level of play. In time it's hoped that every tennis player worldwide will have an ITN. The ITN will provide a method of classifying skill levels of tennis players internationally. There are 10 rating categories. Players will be rated from ITN 1 to ITN 10, where ITN 1 is a high level player holding an ATP or WTA ranking or of an equivalent level. We're happy to have Ryan Henry here representing ITN 1. ITN 10 is a new player to the game. Francesca, Peter Johnston's daughter, is here who represents an ITN 10. Why only 10 categories? We believe the system is simple, easily understood and relatively easy to promote and use worldwide. Each of you today received an ITN brochure in your packet. In this brochure, it outlines how the ITN has been developed and how we believe it can be used to increase participation worldwide. Just to note some development of the ITN. It was first proposed at ITF AGM in 1998. Following an ITF Marketing of the Game Summit, a task force was set up with experts in competition and rating systems from some of the world's leading tennis nations. Peter Johnston was a member representing Australia. They set out to develop an international rating system for tennis for use by nations who currently have no rating system in place, but also to be used in conjunction with those rating systems which currently operate in some of the more established nations. The objectives of the ITN are, number one, to encourage more playing of tennis; to unite tennis under a common rating language; to encourage nations to implement a national tennis rating system if they don't have one already; to promote a variety of tennis competition formats linked to this rating system; to give more options for finding compatible playing partners; and to facilitate the movement of all levels of players between countries. During the two years we took some very important decisions. We decided in the task force that only one international rating system should operate, and therefore juniors, veterans, wheelchair players will be rated within the same system. We won't have a separate doubles rating; only a singles rating. We've developed a calculation system which ensures that doubles also can be incorporated. What is the difference between a rating and a ranking? A rating groups players of a similar level within a category or band. It does not determine the relative level of players within each category. A ranking is based more upon specific tournament results or competitions, and is a more accurate estimate of the relative standard of players within a category is given. Most countries around the world have rankings which they use extensively. We estimate there are less than 20 countries worldwide that have a national rating system in place. What we do know is those countries that do have rating systems have high levels of tennis participation. We developed a description of standard which describes each of the 10 rating bands. It's been approved by the ITF Coaches Commission and the Ratings Task Force. We believe this description of standard will enable players to be rated reasonably accurately. You've all received a copyy of this in your pack today. We mentioned earlier the main objective is to increase participation. I want to just talk about the ITN 10 category which we believe is very important for growing the game. Remember, the ITN 10 player is a player new to the game, who can play competitively. It means they can get the serve in, they can return and rally. We developed subcategories, ITN 10.1, 10.2 and 10.3 for starter players who are not yet ready to play competitively on a full court with a normal ball. We believe this is very important because it ensures we can include mini tennis players and adult beginners in the system, and we believe this will help attract and retain new players into tennis. How will the ITN be used in our member nations? Countries without a national rating system, the players will hold only one rating, the ITN. The ITF will provide a calculation system to help them adjust the ITN number through competition. Countries with a national rating system in place, we developed a conversion chart which compares the rating categories of those countries with the ITN. We have agreement from all of these countries as to where their ratings fit in with the ITN. We're delighted that the four Grand Slam nations are also involved in this conversion chart. In these countries, players will hold two ratings, their national rating and the corresponding ITN. ITN and competition. Countries will be encouraged to link their competitive structure to the ITN. The ITN should become the basis for organizing tournaments worldwide. ITN and coaching. Coaches will be used to conduct ratings clinics to rate players. We believe the ITN will become an effective tool for club coaches to help them organize and tailor coaching programs. We developed a ratings manual to help them implement the ITN at a national level. We've also looked at handicapping and we've come up with a proposed handicapping system where free points can be used, with the weaker player taking a fixed number of free points in each set. We feel this will be very good for recreational tennis. Remember, they're guidelines. These are shown in your manual that you have here. The ITN and the way forward. The ITF will continue with their member nations to promote the ITN worldwide. We're currently working on generic advertising material which can be used. We've established an ITF website dedicated to the ITN which has gone live with this press conference. The website is internationaltennisnumber.com. This is the home page. We hope some of you will have a chance to go to that home page later today. Australia, we're delighted to have them as a first ITF member nation to adopt the ITN as a national rating system. We know there are many nations ready to introduce the ITN as their national rating system as soon as possible. We believe that the Tennis Australia launch will provide a lot of important information for other nations to use when they launch. Everybody in this room today knows that tennis is a great sport, a sport for all. We believe the ITN can have a big impact on tennis participation worldwide. Today is the day that the ITF begins to rate the tennis world. We're asking you, are you ready? We're delighted that Australia is ready today. It's a pleasure for me to introduce the president of Tennis Australia.

GEOFF POLLARD: Thanks, Dave and Francesco. Certainly Tennis Australia is very proud and pleased to be chosen as the nation to introduce the International Tennis Number for the whole world. The aim is that any player as they travel around Australia or travel around the world will now be able to accurately describe their tennis playing ability and be able to find a partner or opponent, if you want to play social or in competition, a partner or opponent of roughly the same standard as yourself. We all agree, it's a wonderful step forward in tennis to finally have all the different countries of the world speaking the same language with respect to rating their players. In Australia, we've introduced a marketing campaign with four key strategies addressed at coaches, addressed at club centers and associations, addressed at tournaments, and addressed for existing and potential tennis players. With respect to coaches, we have distributed to all accredited coaches in Australia a flip chart booklet which describes the 10 categories, and that will enable them to rate the players that they coach, enable them to set a challenge for their players to move up from one rating to the next rating. For the clubs and centers, we've distributed posters, we've distributed T-shirts, we've distributed stickers, all designed to encourage the members of those clubs associations or all those who play at tennis centers to read and understand the new description that replaces the old ones that existed before. We believe in the end, anyone should be able to read this - and self-assessment should be quite possible. The system has been made simple enough, is a key component of it, that you can actually rate yourself if you read the easy descriptions that have been given. With respect to tournament play, it will be the new tournament language around Australia. It's a key component of the new program we launched in the middle of the year designed to grow the growth of tennis players, particularly in the country areas. It's an integral part of that, an integral part of all the tournaments that are played in over 500 senior tournaments played all over Australia long weekends throughout the year. We're actually providing an incentive to all those tournaments instead of entering in an A, B or C country tournament, you'll now enter in a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. You can have a combination of 7 and 8s, 2 and 3s. All the competitions will be conducted using the International Tennis Number. For existing and potential tennis players, you've already seen the 15-second television commercial that's been aired on Channel 7. You'll certainly also see it on our website. Again, there are stickers and posters, the new Tennis Australia Australian Open tennis workout that we introduced during the year to encourage an hour on the tennis court as a wonderful, healthy exercise, a much better alternative to playing in the gym. You can put together your groups based on the rating that each person will be able to describe themselves. We've started, launched it for the ITF within Australia. We have a strong campaign with coaches, with tennis centers, with tournaments, and for existing and future players. We believe it really is a magnificent step forward. Finally, I would like to thank Peter Johnston, who represented Tennis Australia in all the discussions over the couple of years that Francesco outlined to get all the nations together with the ITF to launch the International Tennis Number.

DAVID MILEY: USTA were represented by David Schobel in the task force. They've been involved in the preparation of the conversion chart. They've agreed that the NTRP lines up with the ITN as per the conversion chart. The intention is in the future that with the NTRP, the USTA on the cards of the players would also have the ITN on the cards. So that's something for the future. They see this as a very positive step because it links into the USTA system with the systems around the world and the ITN.

DAVID MILEY: I think that's a question for Alan Schwartz.

GEOFF POLLARD: He's coming.

FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: He's here.

GEOFF POLLARD: I think initially you're going to see both, them using both. People like me go and play over there, they'll be able to describe themselves with a USTA number, I'll be able to use the international number. I think some nations will use both. We're going right in with only the ITN number in Australia and hope other nations will take our lead.

DAVID MILEY: As I said, as I pointed out earlier, the nations that already have an existing system are going to try to use the ITN in conjunction with their existing system. They don't see them changing immediately. Maybe at some stage in the future it could lead to one rating system worldwide. For the moment, those existing systems are seeing the ITN as something that backs up what they have and makes it even better.

GEOFF POLLARD: I know within Australia, there is a suggestion that if you've got a 3 and a 5 playing a 2 and a 4, you can gradually fine tune what the handicap system should be between them. At the moment, it would be more to encourage, if you have four players, you know one is a 2, 3, 4, 5, the two players with the 5 against the 3 and the 4 to make an even match. When traveling, I try to find someone of the same standard to play against. We'll have tournaments for 2s or better, 5s and better, for 3s and 4s, 5, 6, 7s, 8, 9, 10s. The thing is, you won't get someone from Sydney coming down to Melbourne and saying they're a B grade player when, in fact, they're an A grade player or vice versa. We'll have a system that's universal in Australia and universal around the world. That's really the positive step out of it all.

DAVID MILEY: We looked at a lot of handicapping systems that exist, such as the French system, minus 15, minus 30, et cetera. The task force in the end decided we felt within a limited range, that means where the score between two players is normally 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 or 6-1, you could use some free points whereby if the weaker player has three, four, five points to choose at any time during the set, then the score would be much more close. We felt for recreational tennis especially, or for players like golf who go out and play every week and compete with each other, that the difference of having one or two points could make the match much more close. Again, our objective was to encourage more playing of tennis. We see this handicapping as being able to facilitate more tennis play.

GEOFF POLLARD: I think you'll find that both teams are 1s. Whoever plays for Great Britain will also be a 1, so no handicap.

DAVID MILEY: I can't comment for the players because we're launching it today. We have talked to many people. We have a consultive document we released during the summer. We had a lot of feedback. One of the interesting things about this is, as a project, which is affecting many nations, we haven't had any negative feedback on this project. People just can see positives to it. I hope the people here today can see the same positives, that it can have impact on tennis worldwide.

DAVID MILEY: Absolutely. You obviously have the countries which already have a system in place. The first stage was to get them to agree to link their systems into the ITN. We have that already. There are new nations, for example Finland, they want to start going. A lot of those nations are waiting to see how the Australian launch goes. There are a lot of lessons to be learned and things to be used in other nations. We have quite a few nations who have said they want to start as soon as possible, and we're trying to provide the materials to them to enable them to start.

FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: I have to say that on this matter, I did a comment that was not completely reported correctly. It caused a lot of misunderstanding. My position on this matter is you could address to the right people this question. The interest of ITF is that we welcome any change in the calendar that could improve the situation for the player. But we are interested as a consequence of any change or any amendment related to Davis Cup, Fed Cup, the Olympics tournament, the Hopman Cup now, so the competitions that we control. Since I was not reported completely correctly, I don't want to cause any further misunderstanding. I ask you to address this question to the right people.

FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: ITF is one of the constituencies, as I said, but is not surely the first one in this case. The Australian Open is the first one, as represented here by the president of Tennis Australia and the Australian Open.

FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: Me?

FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: My position is that any calendar, any change in the calendar that could improve the situation is welcome. As I said to the journalist, it was not reported correctly, any amendment is a puzzle operation and needs the consensus of many, many constituencies. So the visibility, in my opinion, is always very low. Why not to consider many options?

GEOFF POLLARD: There are a lot of interested parties in the dates of every tournament, not just the Australian Open. I think we made it quite clear that there would be no possibility of any change at least before 2007. The dates of the circuit are an issue that is always discussed by the Grand Slams, by of the ITF, by the ATP, by the WTA, by sponsors, by television companies, so on. The determination of the circuit in the end is a multi-dimensional exercise.

JOHN LINDSAY: Any final questions on the ITN? If not, thank you.

GEOFF POLLARD: Thank you.

FRANCESCO RICCI BITTI: Thank you.