Qatar Tennis Federation (QTF) is the governing body for professional and amateur Tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 in Qatar

Qatar

Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...

. The mission of QTF is to provide young Qatari

Demographics of Qatar

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Qatar, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population....

 tennis players the best resources and opportunities available to reach their maximum potential and compete in renowned tennis tournaments locally, regionally and internationally. In addition the Qatar Tennis Federation (QTF) is fully committed to elevate the level of tennis in the country and to turn tennis into the preferred sport among the community of Qatar.

Qatar Tennis Federation operates all of the Qatar national representative tennis sides, including the Qatar national men's team

Qatar Davis Cup team

The Qatar Davis Cup team represents Qatar in Davis Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Qatar Tennis Federation.Qatar currently compete in the Asia/Oceania Zone of Group IV. They won Group III in 1994 and 1997.-External links:...

, the Qatar national women's tennis team and youth sides as well. QTF is also responsible for organizing and hosting the all types of tennis tournaments in Qatar.

History

Qatar Tennis Federation was established in April 9, 1984 and His Excellency Dr. Issa Ghanem Al – Kuwari became the first President of the Federation. In 1987 tennis was introduced to major sporting clubs of Qatar.

In 1991 facilities at the Qatar Tennis Federation had increased including the number of tennis courts and on December 16, 1992 the ultra modern Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha was inaugurated by Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, The Emir of the State of Qatar.
The first ATP Qatar Open for men took place in January 1993. Due to the major development in the sport for women in the country, the Qatar Tennis Federation took a major steps for the development of women tennis in Qatar and organized the first women tennis championship to be held in the Middle East. Starting in 2001 the Qatar Open attracted the greatest women players from the WTA Tour including; Martina Hingis

Martina Hingis

Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...

, Mary Pierce

Mary Pierce

Mary Pierce is a French-American tennis professional playing on the Women's Tennis Association tour. She is a citizen of France, Canada, and the United States but plays for France in team competitions and the Olympics.Pierce has won four Grand Slam titles, two in singles and two in doubles...

, Sandrine Testud

Sandrine Testud

Sandrine Testud is a former professional female tennis player from France.-Career:Testud broke into top 20 singles rankings in July 1997. On February 7, 1999, she became the fourth Frenchwoman after Françoise Durr, Mary Pierce and Nathalie Tauziat to break into singles top 10 rankings...

, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario

Arantxa Sánchez Vicario

Aránzazu 'Arantxa' Isabel Maria Sánchez Vicario is a Spanish former professional tennis player...

 among many others. From 2008 to 2010 the Sony Ericsson Championships were held in Qatar.

Tennis in Qatar

All the progress and development of tennis in the nation has brought as a result the increase of Qatari players, their participation in tennis tournaments and the opportunity to come in contact with international professional players. But still tennis is not as popular as football, still at professional level there are not so much players from Qatar. QTF opened its Tennis Schhol for the young tennis aspirants of age group 5 to 15 in 2006 to provide the most advance and professional tennis skills.

Tournaments

QTF annually organizes two international tournaments for men and women, which attracts world's top players.

• Qatar Open - ATP Tournament for men.
• Qatar Ladies Open - WTA Tournament for women.

QTF has also organized WTA Tour Championships

WTA Tour Championships

The WTA Tour Championships is a tennis tournament played annually at the end of the season for the top-ranked players on the Women's Tennis Association tour. The month, city and number of players has changed since the first edition in 1972...

 three times in 2008

2008 WTA Tour Championships

The 2008 WTA Tour Championships was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 38th edition of the year-end singles championships, the 33rd edition of the year-end doubles championships, and is part of the 2008 WTA Tour...

, 2009

2009 WTA Tour Championships

The 2009 WTA Tour Championships was held in Doha, Qatar from October 27 to November 1. It was the second time the Khalifa International Tennis Complex hosted the WTA Tour Year-End Singles and Doubles Championships.Women's Tennis Association rank No...

 and 2010

2010 WTA Tour Championships

The 2010 WTA Tour Championships was held in Doha, Qatar from October 26 to October 31. It was the third and final time that the Khalifa International Tennis Complex hosted the WTA Tour Year-End Singles and Doubles Championships. In 2011 the competition will move to Istanbul, Turkey.Serena Williams...

.

Board of Directors

This is a list of current board of directors of Qatar Tennis Federation.

Name	Position
Nasser Ghanim Al Khelaifi	President
Youssef Mohammad Al-Obaidly	General Secretary
Tariq Darwish Zainal	Asst. Secretary General
Khalid Ghanim Al–Khelaifi	Head of the National Team Committee
Karim Alami	Tournament Director