The International Tennis Federation has named Rafael Nadal and Jelena Jankovic as their world champions of 2008. Nadal stepped past Federer in the Wimbledon final win, and he is the first Spaniard to achieve the honor of men's world champion. Nadal also won the French Open title in 2008, his fourth, again besting Federer in the final, the third time he had done so. At 22 years of age, Nadal also won the Olympic gold at Beijing and brought Spain to the Davis Cup Final, and despite his injury the Spaniards won the Davis Cup. Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario is the only other Spanish tennis player to win the International Tennis Federation women's champion in 1994. Jankovic, despite losing the Grand Slam in 2008, to Serena Williams, still won the most matches than any other player, having won the WTA titles in Rome, Stuttgart, Moscow and Beijing.
The selection process for the International Tennis Federation includes results from Olympics, Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Grand Slams, and both the ATP and WTA tours. The ITF president, Francesco Ricci Bitti, said that "Both [tennis players] are excellent ambassadors for their countries, for whom they have achieved considerable success both as individuals and in the ITF team competitions."
Jelena Jankovic started playing at age nine, and in the 2001 Australia Open she won as a junior. In her career, she has a 330 to 171 record, having achieved nine WTA titles and one ITF title. Rafael Nadal began playing at three, and at eight, he won his first competition. Over his career, he has a 335 to 31 singles record, and 31 titles to his name. Both players represent the top of their respective leagues, and are definitely are well deserving of the honors they have received.
For the doubles teams, the International Tennis Federation named Canadian Daniel Nestor and Serbia's Nenad Zimonjic the men's world champions. The womens doubles honor was given to Zimbabwe's Cara Black and American Liezel Huber. Junior world champion whet to the winner of the French Open boys, Taiwan's Yang Tsung-hua, and Thailand's Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, a finalist of the Wimbledon girls competition. The ITF Wheelchair world champion honors went to Japanese Shingo Kunieda and Netherland's Esther Vergeer. The award ceremony and dinner will be held in Paris on Jun 2nd.
The International Tennis Federation, formed 95 years ago, represents 205 countries in the world of tennis. The organization was based in Paris until WWII, where it was moved to London. It is responsible for running the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, the Hopman Cup, as well as the four grand slams, the Austrailian, US, French Opens and Wimbledon. The rest of the major competitions are controlled by the ATP and WTA tour. Lower tier matches are organized by the ITF. The world champion title began to be awarded in 1978 for singles, and 1996 for doubles. Roger Federer has been the World Champion for the last four years, and Nader has just managed to push him out of the honor. Justine Henin, was the prior two time winner of the womens world champion title.
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