Our Gender Equality Programme Advantage All | ITF
Latest Advantage All news

The goal of Advantage All is to develop and maintain tennis as an equal advantage sport which serves as an inspirational role model for all Olympic and Paralympic sports. Ultimately, achieving gender balance – where everyone is provided the same advantage and opportunity across the sport, both on and off court – will make tennis better for everyone.

National and Regional Associations are encouraged to use the resources below to devise, develop and drive their own gender equality strategies. You can start by taking the ITF’s gender equality self-assessment survey by following the link below.

ITF Advantage All Strategy

Discover the strategy in more detail below

For us, gender equality is not an option, it’s our collective obligation.

National Associations – please click on the links to our Self Assessment Tool to help start and guide your journey.

English tool

French tool

Spanish tool

In August 2020, the ITF hosted webinars for Regional and National Associations to discuss the Advantage All strategy and guide member nations through the toolkit guides and self-assessment tool. Four nations, in varying stages of their strategy development, also shared their own triumphs and challenges. Their case study videos and the presentation from the webinar, can be viewed here: 

Tennis Ireland

The ITF’s Advantage All Gender Equality Strategy is built on five pillars:

Chair Gender Equality in Tennis Committee Katrina Adams

“Thanks to women like Billie Jean King and others like her, tennis is positioned better than most sports to be a powerful platform for empowering women and girls. However, as the research shows, tennis still has a way to go before we can claim our game as an equal advantage sport.”

Empowerment Women empowered to take leadership positions

More women coaching, officiating and leading the administration of our sport. Women having a greater influence on the future of tennis off the court through increased visibility and representation in leadership and governance roles

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Balance Balanced opportunities to participate and enjoy tennis

From the programmes and competitions that we offer, to funding, training, earning potential, prominence and exposure. It's important that we provide balanced support for both genders

Discover more about participation
Value Raise the commercial appeal of the women's game

Women's sport is seen as progressive and inspiring and the audiences are growing. We need to ensure our women's products are maximised and given equal opportunity to perform from a fan, sponsorship and broadcast delivery perspective

Voice Grow awareness and manage media image of women's tennis

We need to work hard to continue to position the women's game, build powerful and positive language and focus on the sport and performance. We need to help the media to find 'one voice' and speak in a consistent way about women's tennis

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Culture Create an Equal Advantage environment

It's critical that we build a culture that includes and inspires all, actively eliminating bias and discrimination at all levels of our sport

More about how we're growing the game
Supported by The Foundation for Global Sports Development

With thanks to The Foundation for Global Sports Development, the partners in our Advantage All campaign

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Case studies

As part of its Advantage All gender equality initiative, the ITF is profiling female leaders and role models from within the sport.

Once one of Africa’s top juniors, Wanjiru Mbugua-Karani is now Secretary General of Tennis Kenya and establishing herself as a force for change beyond her nation’s borders.

Find out more about her inspirational story.

Former world No. 1 and three-time Grand Slam champion Lindsay Davenport reflects on the challenges of sexist attitudes in the 1990s and on what still must be done to combat inequality in tennis and society as a whole - and she reserves special praise for her friend, and equality trailblazer, Billie Jean King.

Read the full interview

In her previous role as CEO of Sport England, Jennie Price came to understand the transformative power of sport – and, crucially, how to harness it. Now the Independent Chair of the Tennis Integrity Unit Supervisory Board, Price is credited with raising the number of grassroot sports participants in the UK by millions over the past decade, with particular success in getting women and girls to engage, or re-engage, with sport and exercise – some achievement for a woman who “never thought I would end up working in sport.”

Read the full story here

Tennis in Numbers - On the Court

47% Female in terms of global participation
40% of players on the ITF World Tennis Tour are women
1 in 5 coaches are women
Only 22% of certified officials are women
12 of top 15 highest paid female athletes are tennis players
IOC President Thomas Bach

“Sport is one of the most powerful platforms for promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls.”

Tennis in Numbers - Off the court

Less than 20% female representation at Board level
Over 50% increase in number of women on ITF Committees and Commissions in last five years
42% of the ITF's Senior Leadership Team are women
4 of 34 candidates for the ITF Board were women in 2019