ITF Press Release, January 19, 2022
The International Tennis Federation has today announced the players who have been elected to the ITF World Tennis Tour Player Panels. The panels provide a forum for players to provide their input and have their say on how the tour is run, with members elected by their fellow players.
The elected player members of the panels are:
| Men’s Tennis Panel | Women’s Tennis Panel |
| Michalis Sakellaridis (GRE) | Conny Perrin (SUI) |
| Francesco Vilardo (ITA) | Sofia Shapatava (GEO) |
| Juan Pablo Paz (ARG) | Sravya Shivani Chilakalapudi (IND) |
| Courtney John Lock (ZIM) | Alexandra Osborne (AUS) |
| Jesse Flores (CRC) | Ines Ibbou (ALG) |
| Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND) | Sabastiani Leon (USA) |
The elected player members will serve a term until the end of the 2023 season and will meet at least two times per year. The men’s tennis panel will be chaired by Mark Woodforde and the women’s tennis panel will be chaired by Mary Pierce. In addition to their illustrious playing careers, Woodforde and Pierce are also athlete representatives on the ITF Board of Directors. A coach will also be appointed to both the men’s tennis and women’s tennis panel.
To ensure broad geographical representation, there is a limit of two players per region on both the men’s tennis panel and the women’s tennis panel. Additionally, there is a limit on the number of players in the highest ranking band on each tour’s panel (a maximum of two players with ATP rankings of No. 351-500 in either singles or doubles for the men’s tennis panel; a maximum of three players with WTA rankings No. 151-300 in either singles or doubles for the women’s tennis panel). Due to the regional requirements, both Panels will start with 6 members; each panel has the option (in consultation with the ITF World Tennis Tour Committee) to appoint a further member who would allow the regional and ranking criteria to be fulfilled.
Full results of the elections can be viewed here.
The elections result in a second term for five players: Francesco Vilardo, Juan Pablo Paz and Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha on the men’s panel; and for Conny Perin and Ines Ibbou on the women’s panel.
The ITF is grateful to the following outgoing members for their contribution over the last 18 months: Tara Moore, Petra Januskova, Yuliana Lizarazo, Olivia Tjandramulia, Akgul Amanmuradova, Jose Bendeck, Aldin Setkic and Ti Chen.
Player members vote, where voting is required, on each tour’s panel to make recommendations to the ITF World Tennis Tour Committee. The chair and the coach are non-voting members. The panels advise and make recommendations to the ITF World Tennis Tour Committee, which in turn reports to the ITF Board of Directors.
David Haggerty, ITF president, said: “We established player panels on the ITF World Tennis Tour in 2020 in order to facilitate valuable discussion and gain feedback from the playing community regarding the Tours. We would like to thank the outgoing panel members for giving their time and input, particularly through the challenging circumstances of the pandemic. We look forward to working with the elected members of the player panels to ensure that players’ opinions are at the forefront when making decisions about the World Tennis Tour.”
