The World Association with its President David Haggerty wants to further improve the dialogue with the players on the tour and has engaged the former pros André Sa and Rennae Stubbs as advisors to the ITF.
The ITF provided the personal details on Thursday. The Australian Stubbs (46) and the Brazilian Sa (40) will maintain contact with the pros as well as with their coaches and managers and the tournament organizers. Both Stubbs, who meanwhile works as a TV commentator, and Sa are highly regarded in the scene.
“The viewpoint of the players is very important to us. Rennae and André will ensure constant communication between the professionals and us,”said ITF President David Haggerty, adding:”This will put us in a stronger position to share our visions with them and, on the other hand, to hear their views on the future of tennis”.
Stubbs and Sa described the US-born association boss as “our eyes and ears on tour”. Since 2015, the former French Grand Slam winner Mary Pierce and Mark Woodforde from Australia have been members of the ITF Board of Directors as athletes’ representatives. Both are also members of the ITF Athletes’ Commission.
In her career, Stubbs had won 60 doubles tournaments (including four Grand Slam titles) and was number one in the double world rankings. The ex-Fed Cup player from Sydney ended her career in 2011. Sa, born in Belo Horizonte, won a total of eleven ATP events in doubles and surprisingly reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2002. Meanwhile he trains his compatriot Thomaz Bellucci.