The ITF, along with the Association for Tennis Professionals (ATP), Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and grand slam tournaments gave unanimous approval to the system, which disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong claims deterred him from doping further after it was introduced in cycling.

The biological passport method takes various samples of a competitors biological data and looks for abnormalities in normal biological levels in order to spot doping, as opposed to testing for individual substances.

The passport itself is an electronic document which alerts officials when significant changes occur.

The amount of blood tests to be conducted both in and out of competition will also be increased.

World number one Novak Djokovic is one of the players that called for the biological passport to be introduced

The world's top three players, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray, all called for improvements to be made to the anti-doping regime in the sport after it emerged that the ITF had taken only 21 out-of-competition blood tests in 2011, and just 63 out-of-competition last year.

"The implementation of the athlete biological passport is an important step in the evolution of the tennis anti-doping programme," ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti, said.

"We also hope to have increased support from the national anti-doping agencies around the world who need to do their part if we are to win this battle and make our programme more effective.

"Our thanks to the grand slam tournaments, the ATP and WTA, who have recognised the need to increase the investment of tennis in anti-doping, and to the players who asked for more testing, especially blood testing, over the next few years."

Brad Drewett, executive chairman and President of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), added: "We feel that this is the most effective way to show the world that tennis is a clean sport."

The system is a very expensive one to implement, and it seems unclear as to how it will be funded.

Last month, British number one Andy Murray said that he would be happy to take a pay-cut in order to fund the programme.

"A lot of it, unfortunately, comes down to money," said the 25-year-old Scotsman.

"Maybe it's down to the ATP to invest some of our own money to make sure we get more testing done."

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