ZZ LONDON INTERNATIONAL MODEL UNITED NATIONS 2018 International Tennis Federation London International Model United Nations 19th Session | 2018 Table of Content 1 ZZ LONDON INTERNATIONAL MODEL UNITED NATIONS 2018 Table of Contents Introduction Letters .................................................................................................. p. 3 Introduction to the Committee ............................................................................ pp. 4-5 TOPIC A: Discussing the Future of Tennis as a Worldwide Sport Introduction ................................................................................................ pp. 6-7 History of the Problem ............................................................................. pp. 8-12 Current Situation ................................................................................... pp. 13-18 Bloc Positions .............................................................................................. p. 19 Questions a Resolution Must Answer .................................................. pp. 20-21 Sources ................................................................................................... pp. 22-25 TOPIC B: World Cup of Tennis Finals Bidding Process ................................ pp. 26-28 Conference Information .......................................................................................... p. 29 2 ZZ LONDONLONDON INTERNAINTERNATIONALTIONAL MODELMODEL UNITEDUNITED NATIONSNATIONS 20182018 Introduction Letters Dear Delegates, It is a pleasure to welcome you to the International Tennis Federation! My name is Florian, I am French and currently in my first year of a master in Political Science at Pantheon-Sorbonne. I will attend LIMUN for the fourth consecutive year and the second time as a chair. I am looking forward to this conference, as it is the first time LIMUN will run this special committee, and to discussing with you politics and sports, that are my two passions. I hope the study guide will be a useful base for your research, especially regarding the bidding process. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any query, the email address is [email protected]. Florian GUIDAT, Director Dear Delegates, Welcome to the International Tennis Federation! My name is Ariel and I am a French second year Biotechnology student at Imperial College London. I have previously been a chair and a delegate at various Model UN conferences, including LIMUN last year as a delegate. Just like Florian, sports and politics are two subjects that I love and I am particularly excited about the bidding process that we will have during the committee sessions. I look forward to seeing you all in London in a few weeks. Ariel FEDIDA, Assistant Director 3 ZZ LONDONLONDON INTERNAINTERNATIONALTIONAL MODELMODEL UNITEDUNITED NATIONSNATIONS 20182018 Introduction to the Committee The International Tennis Federation (ITF)1 is recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the international sports federation for tennis, and has its headquarters in London. The Annual General Meeting of National Associations will be simulated at LIMUN. The simulation will also include a bidding process for the newly introduced World Cup of Tennis. “The ITF, the world governing body of tennis, oversees the following five areas of the game2: Administration and regulation Organising international competition Structuring the game Developing the game Promoting the game It administers and regulates the game through 210 affiliated National Associations, together with six Regional Associations. The ITF is responsible for the Rules of Tennis, including the technical specifications for courts and equipment, and the running and enforcing of a joint anti-doping programmes. 1 http://www.itftennis.com/about/organisation/constitution.aspx 2 http://www.itftennis.com/about/organisation/role.aspx 4 ZZ LONDON INTERNATIONAL MODEL UNITED NATIONS 2018 ITF controls the major international team events including the world‟s two largest annual international team competitions in tennis, the Davis Cup and Fed Cup. The ITF is involved at the highest levels of the game, including the Olympic Games, to which tennis was reintroduced as a full medal sport in 1988. In addition, the ITF works closely with the four Grand Slam tournaments, namely the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open. The ITF develops the games through its worldwide development programme, and promotes tennis through television, marketing, sponsorship, etc.”3 Concerning the rules at LIMUN, a ⅔ majority will be needed for substantial votes4. Finally, we expect a position paper from all delegates on topic A, and would look favourably upon all those that will submit a bid for topic B as explained later in the Study Guide. 3 http://www.itftennis.com/about/organisation/role.aspx 4 http://www.itftennis.com/about/organisation/constitution.aspx 5 ZZ LONDON INTERNATIONAL MODEL UNITED NATIONS 2018 Topic A: Discussing the Future of Tennis as a Worldwide Sport Introduction The topic of discussing the future of tennis as a worldwide sport that the ITF will be debating during LIMUN is related to the agenda ITF 2024, a long-term sustainable growth, which was created in June 2016. “The ITF has identified the following eight strategic priorities in order to achieve these goals: 1. Integrity: Uphold the highest levels of integrity, governance and transparency; 2. Investment: Strengthen the financial position of ITF and its member nations; 3. Development: Increase ITF development funding and expertise to grow tennis around the world; 4. Davis Cup and Fed Cup: Create more revenue for investment in Tennis through the creation of the World Cup of Tennis finals; 5. Olympics: Elevate tennis in the Olympics; 6 ZZ LONDON INTERNATIONAL MODEL UNITED NATIONS 2018 6. Opportunity: Provide opportunities to play at all levels of the game; 7. Partnership: Increase cooperation and collaboration with all partners; 8. Communication: Engage, listen to, understand and work more closely with National and Regional Associations.”5 However aside from discussing some of the core ideas of the agenda ITF 2024, this committee will also touch upon principles of tennis that need more attention and implementation. Therefore, this committee will focus specifically on the four key areas: 1. Integrity (part of the agenda ITF 2024): protecting clean player and the integrity of the games through the discussions of doping and corruption; 2. Development (part of the agenda ITF 2024): promoting tennis worldwide to allow everyone to play tennis, promoting the emergence of new talents from developing countries; 3. Calendar: adjusting the calendar of tournaments to avoid the situation where players would rather skip a tournament or not be part of his national team (i.e. the Davis Cup or Fed Cup) to preserve himself for future games; integrate the newly created Laver Cup and World Cup of Tennis to prevent clashes with other major tournaments, reviewing the length spent on each surface (clay, grass and hard courts, outdoor and indoor tournaments) to balance the calendar; 4. Rules: making tennis more attractive to a large public, by introducing new technologies, reducing time lost between points or reviewing format of matches, for both men and women. Finally, the delegates will also have a chance to apply the agenda ITF 2024 through their official submissions of the bidding packs for the candidate host cities 5 http://www.itftennis.com/news/231617.aspx 7 ZZ LONDON INTERNATIONAL MODEL UNITED NATIONS 2018 and the subsequent elections of the host cities of the World Cup of Tennis finals 2018. The further detail of the bidding process can be found in Topic B. 8 ZZ LONDON INTERNATIONAL MODEL UNITED NATIONS 2018 History of the Problem 1. Integrity One of the objects and purposes of the ITF is to promote the integrity of tennis and to protect the health and rights of tennis players. Two major plagues are affecting tennis alongside other major sports, namely doping and corruption. a. Doping It wasn‟t until the mid80s that tennis accepted international standards for drug testing, including out-of-competition testing and sanctions for rule-breakers. The first case of doping of major tennis stars occurred in the beginning of the 90s‟. However, as tennis continued to award itself a badge of merit for its drug program, Steffi Graf started a French Open press conference in 1994 by announcing that she had never been tested for drugs and that she suspected other women were bulking up on steroids. This was a mind-blowing statement which points out the real effectiveness and transparency of anti-doping programs. Few years before, Yannick Noah spoke out to publicly speak about the use of drugs in tennis. Recently, doping cases have shocked the tennis community, with Marin Cilic in 2013 and Sharapova in 2016, two Grand Slams winners. Please refer to this excellent article for more information about doping history in tennis: A Short History of Drugs in Tennis6. b. Corruption Tennis is quite preserved from corruption; no scandal has hit the ITF unlike the Athletics, Football or Boxing International Federations to name a few. Rather, corruption needs to be seen as game fixing, where players agree on the result of the game beforehand for financial interests. 6 http://www.insidetennis.com/2009/10/short-history-drugs-tennis/ 9 ZZ LONDON INTERNATIONAL MODEL UNITED NATIONS 2018 With more and more money involved in tennis due to globalisation and betting, the risk of corruption increased, especially in small