Four candidates to replace Ricci Bitti as International Tennis Federation President

The International Tennis Federation has confirmed the quartet of nominations for its Presidential elections ©ITF

Four officials from three continents will battle to replace Francesco Ricci Bitti as President of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), it has been confirmed today.

ITF vice-president David Haggerty will go up against All India Tennis Association and Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) head Anil Khanna, as well as ITF executive vice-president Juan Margets of Spain, and Swiss Professional Tennis Association President Rene Stambach at the ITF’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Santiago, Chile, on September 25.

Nominations for the position of ITF President have been made by Class B member nations who fully meet ITF constitutional criteria.

The 73-year-old Ricci Bitti announced earlier this year he will step down as ITF President after 16 years in the position.

An ITF spokesman told insidethegames that the Italian had informed the ITF Board of Directors and National Associations that he will not be standing for re-election.

Nominations for election to the ITF Board of Directors have also been made by Class B Member Nations.

Both the President and 13 other members of the Board of Directors will be elected for four-year terms from 2015 to 2019.

ITF executive vice-president Juan Margets is in the running to become President ©Getty Images

Incumbent Board members on the 26-strong list includes Tunisia’s Tarak Cherif, Chile's Sergio Elias, Canada’s Jack Graham, Australia’s Stephen Healy as well as Haggerty, Khanna, Stammbach.

Also featuring are American States’ Katrina Adams, Britain’s Martin Corrie, Serbia’s Goran Djokovic, Egypt’s Ismail El Shafei, Spain’s Jose Luis Escañuela Romana, Italy’s Luisanna Fodde, Mexico’s Rodolfo Garcia Muriel, France’s Bernard Giudicelli, Germany’s Ulrich Klaus and Denmark’s Thomas Koenigsfeldt.

Completing the list is Brazil’s Jorge Lacerda da Rosa, New Zealand’s Celia Patrick, Russia’s Aleksei Selivanenko, Croatia’s Predrag Stojcevic, Sri Lanka’s Surendran Subramaniam, Bulgaria’s Stefan Tzvetkov, Turkey’s Ayda Uluc, Kazakhstan’s Bulat Utemuratov and The Netherlands’ Karin van Bijsterveld.

The length of term for Board members has been increased from two to four years after a motion was passed at the 2014 ITF AGM in Dubai.