The International Tennis Federation announced recently the world champions for 2008, first time recipients were Rafael Nadal and Jelena Jankovic.
Nadal gave Spain another reason to celebrate, being the first male tennis player to received the honour following the foot steps of his compatriot Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario who received the same honour for the women's division in 1994. The four time French Open Champion and 2008 Wimbledon Open champion considers 2008 as the best year for him, a year he will never ever forget. IT was indeed a great year for Spanish Tennis winning gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the championship in the Davis Cup.
ITF also honours Serbian Jelena Jankovic, she is the first from her country to become Singles World champion after securing he year-end No. 1 ranking in a standout year. She reached her first Grand Slam final at the US Open, and won more matches on the tour than any other player, capturing four titles in Rome, Beijing, Stuttgart and Moscow. The 23-year-old also represented her country at the Olympics and in Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, where she helped Serbia qualify for the World Group for the first time ever.
The ITF’s selection of its World Champions is based on an objective system that considers not only performances at the Grand Slams, Olympic Games and respective tours, but also gives weight to performances in the two ITF international team competitions, Davis Cup by BNP Paribas and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, and the Olympic Games.
ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti said: “Rafael Nadal and Jelena Jankovic both enjoyed breakthrough years in 2008. Both players are excellent ambassadors for their countries, for whom they have achieved considerable success both as individuals and in the ITF team competitions.”
The ITF also announced that Daniel Nestor (CAN) and Nenad Zimonjic (SRB), and Cara Black (ZIM) and Liezel Huber (USA) are the 2008 ITF Doubles World Champions.
Nadal gave Spain another reason to celebrate, being the first male tennis player to received the honour following the foot steps of his compatriot Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario who received the same honour for the women's division in 1994. The four time French Open Champion and 2008 Wimbledon Open champion considers 2008 as the best year for him, a year he will never ever forget. IT was indeed a great year for Spanish Tennis winning gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the championship in the Davis Cup.
ITF also honours Serbian Jelena Jankovic, she is the first from her country to become Singles World champion after securing he year-end No. 1 ranking in a standout year. She reached her first Grand Slam final at the US Open, and won more matches on the tour than any other player, capturing four titles in Rome, Beijing, Stuttgart and Moscow. The 23-year-old also represented her country at the Olympics and in Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, where she helped Serbia qualify for the World Group for the first time ever.
The ITF’s selection of its World Champions is based on an objective system that considers not only performances at the Grand Slams, Olympic Games and respective tours, but also gives weight to performances in the two ITF international team competitions, Davis Cup by BNP Paribas and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, and the Olympic Games.
ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti said: “Rafael Nadal and Jelena Jankovic both enjoyed breakthrough years in 2008. Both players are excellent ambassadors for their countries, for whom they have achieved considerable success both as individuals and in the ITF team competitions.”
The ITF also announced that Daniel Nestor (CAN) and Nenad Zimonjic (SRB), and Cara Black (ZIM) and Liezel Huber (USA) are the 2008 ITF Doubles World Champions.
December 20, 2008 at 12:53 PM
sports minded talaga si kittykat oh...i only watch basketball...shhh