(Reuters) – The International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) revenues surpassed pre-COVID levels in 2022, increasing by 47.6% year-on-year to $98.3 million, it said on Wednesday.
The world governing body of tennis added that it maintained significant reserves for financial sustainability and for use in strategic projects and investments, with that figure totalling $40.2 million as of Dec. 31 last year.
“The ITF’s finances are robust,” said ITF President David Haggerty, whose organisation converted a majority of its income into $85 million of contribution to the global game last year – up by 30.2% from $65.3 million in COVID-impacted 2021.
“We maintain significant reserves and we have a strong pipeline of commercial developments that will help support the game globally. Now it’s about the future and we have an ambitious vision for the game we love.
“I’m excited by what’s in front for tennis, especially as a sport that benefits so much from a real commitment to gender parity and international development.”
The body said the introduction of ‘ITF2024’, its long-term plan for sustainable growth announced in mid-2016, had driven a significant upturn in its financial performance.
It added that its reinvestment in tennis had grown by 95.4% or $41.5 million since ‘ITF2024’ was launched.
“In 2022 we surpassed our pre-pandemic revenues by more than 10% and this helped us to reinvest $85 million into tennis,” ITF CEO Kelly Fairweather said.
Fairweather said that it included spending $12 million on international development activities to further the game as well as investing $19 million in providing opportunities for people to compete at all levels around the world.
As part of its annual review, the ITF added that its 2022 World Tennis Tour showed impressive figures with 10,216 players participating in 1,059 tournaments, split across the men’s and women’s game (526 and 533 events) and held in 65 countries.
Players competed for a record $25 million in total prize money last year, the ITF added.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)
