'A dream': Santilli to set sail from ITF after 27 years growing tennis
There are a couple of shelves in his otherwise sparse office which are jampacked with mementoes that tell the wider story of a quietly spoken man who has turned up the volume in global tennis development.
The keepsakes in question are from around the world and reflect the global nature of the ITF’s work and the impact the governing body has had in strengthening tennis for future generations.
The souvenirs are from Lebanon, Uruguay, Pakistan, Ghana, Lithuania, Paraguay, Solomon Islands and the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. There is also an ancient Chinese manuscript to celebrate this individual devising the concept for the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals in Chengdu.
The office in question belongs to Luca Santilli, the ITFs Executive Director of Tennis Development, who has announced that he will retire from the ITF in May after more than 25 years.
His dedication to tennis spans even longer, with him joining the ITF from the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation (FITP) in 1999 and initially working as the ITF’s Development Officer for Europe while still based in Rome.
In 2003, Santilli made the move to the ITF’s headquarters in London where he held senior positions overseeing Juniors and Masters Tennis before being appointed to his current role in 2016.
In fact, the desk at which Santilli first sat down on 6 January 2003 is the same desk – in the same place – that he will vacate for the final time on 29 May. For the 61-year-old, the ride has been memorable.
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“It has been a dream,” said Santilli, whose key fob for the ITF building is attached to a lanyard which celebrates the 25th anniversary of the 14-and-under ITF World Junior Tennis Finals being held in Prostejov, Czechia.
“Tennis was my passion before it became a job and I am very proud of my journey within tennis. I will leave the ITF with great memories and with friends for life all around the world.
“I am so grateful to the ITF. I have met so many wonderful people and worked on so many wonderful programmes, while I have known a generation of champions.
“This has not been a normal job – it is a unique job and that is why it has been so special. It is a job that you can only do properly if you believe you can change lives and change tennis for the better.
“That is the mission, but you do need to believe you can improve things for the better. Tennis seems to attract special people and that is why tennis is the sport it is and the reason why it is so successful.
“For me, it has been a great journey. I am still young in spirit and physically fit, but it is time to move to the next step.”
Global tennis development, for which Santilli has been the Executive Director of for the last decade, encompasses much.
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Put simply, it is the strategic effort to grow the sport worldwide, increase participation across all ages, abilities and genders, while at the same time nurturing elite talent from underrepresented nations.
itftennis.com reported yesterday on the ITF's National Training Centre Recognition programme, which is just one example of how the ITF is raising the bar and ensuring a global footprint of excellence.
To that end, the ITF reinvests 90 per cent of its income each year into growing the game and more than $84.6m has been invested into development projects by the ITF and Grand Slam Player Development Programme since 2016.
Santilli has been front and centre of all the ITF’s achievements in this space in recent years, with the nature of the job meaning he has chalked up his century of nations visited.
“I will never forget my first trip as an ITF Development Officer,” added Santilli, who is an accomplished tennis player himself and won an ITF World Tennis Masters Tour title in Tunis in 2022.
“I wanted to make an impact so went to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Estonia. At the time, tennis was really taking its first steps in those nations.
“The only flight available to Azerbaijan from Tbilisi was on a Yakovlev Yak-40 – a 12-seat aeroplane with combat-style seats – while the Tupolev to Moscow Sheremetyevo to get my connecting flight to Estonia was full of domestic animals and I was surrounded by hens.
“It felt like we were bringing tennis to a new world, but over time you saw the impact the ITF had in those nations and we were able to change lives through the power of sport.
“Another example was from 2000 when, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, I brought 1000 children to the main square in Tirana, Albania where they played tennis for the first time.
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“There was nothing really happening in Albania back then, just six old tennis courts in the centre of Tirana. However, through the decades, you can see how tennis has grown there.
“In so many nations that had no structure, there is a now a clear pathway from grassroots to the top. When you create a pathway, that’s when you can see the future of the sport.”
While he does not rule out working on tennis projects in future, Santilli does have some engagements in the coming months which are more set in stone than tentative – and they do not involve a racket and ball.
“When I started working in tennis, I needed a new passion and sailing filled that void,” said Santilli. “I love being on the water and I love windsurfing in the beautiful bay off Gaeta with Naples in the distance.
“I am also going to sail around Sicily in a 7m boat, while a friend and I are going to take his new sailing catamaran from Southampton to the Mediterranean. When there, we're going to watch the 38th America’s Cup regattas. I am very excited.”
Santilli, who met his wife Francesca while they were both working at the FITP, intends to split his time between his family home in Richmond upon Thames and his native Italy upon leaving the ITF.
Coming to the ITF was initially spoken of in the Santilli house as a short-term adventure but grew into something far more substantial. Two of Santilli’s three children – Emma and Camilla – were born in England, while Carolina was only a few months old when her mother and father moved to London.
From a professional standpoint, Santilli has built a legacy within global tennis development and is highly regarded and hugely respected around the world, with a body of work that will stand the test of time.
Thank you, Luca.