The Royal Belgian Tennis Federation ( nl, Koninklijke Belgische Tennisbond; french: link=no, Fédération Royale Belge de Tennis) is an organisation set up in 1902 that formally takes charge of tennis in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. From 1979 on, most tasks are executed by the tennis branches of the

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

and Francophone Communities. The Belgian Federation is one of the 15 inaugural members of the International Tennis Federation. Its headquarters are located in the Brussels Capital Region, in the municipality of Ixelles.

History

On 23 March 1902 the Belgian Lawn Tennis League was founded by 12 tennis clubs. In 1914 the name was changed into Belgian Lawn Tennis Federation and in 1931 the predicate "Royal" was added. Since 1979, all tennis administration - including the organisation, co-ordination and promotion of tennis - is taken care of by the local leagues of the respective Flemish and Francophone Communities. ''Tennis Vlaanderen'' (previously ''Vlaamse Tennisvereniging'') is the Flemish wing, and ''Association Francophone de Tennis'' is the association of French-speaking Belgium.

Organisation

The roles of the separate Flemish and Francophone leagues include organising tennis competitions in Belgium, supporting and co-ordinating tennis clubs. At the national level only the Belgian championships for the youth ( de Borman Cup) and for veterans are still organised. Since 2005 the Belgian championships for men's and women's tennis are not organised anymore. At the international level the following tournament delegations are composed by the Belgian Tennis Federation: * Belgian team at the

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

* Belgian team at the Fed Cup * Belgian team at the Hopman Cup If there are games from these tournaments that take place in Belgium, these are alternately organised by Tennis Vlaanderen and the Association Francophone de Tennis.

Chairmen

* 1902 – 1919 Armand Solvay * 1919 – 1924 Albert Lefèbvre–Giron * 1924 – 1948

Paul de Borman Paul de Borman (; 1 December 1879 – 21 April 1948) was a Belgian tennis player who was active during the early part of the 20th century. He is regarded as a pioneer of Belgian tennis. From 1946 to 1947 he was president of the International T ...

* 1948 – 1956 Oscar Bossaert * 1956 – 1974 Marcel Stas de Richelle * 1974 – 1979

Pierre Geelhand de Merxem Pierre Geelhand de Merxem (1910 – 1982) was a Belgian tennis player of the 1930s and 1940s. Geelhand was Belgium's national singles champion in 1938 and won a further 12 national titles in doubles. In 1946 he won through to the third round at W ...

* 1979 – 1981 Jean-Pierre De Bodt * 1982 – 1982 Roger Tourlamain * 1982 – 1990 Pierre-Paul De Keghel * 1990 – 1995 Henri Denis * 1995 – 2000 Pierre-Paul De Keghel * 2000 – 2005 Yves Freson * 2005 – 2005 Pierre-Paul De Keghel * 2006 – 2010 Luc Vandaele * 2010 – current Yves Freson

References

External links

Official RBTF siteTennis VlaanderenAssociation Francophone de Tennis

Tennis in Belgium 1902 establishments in Belgium Organisations based in Belgium with royal patronage {{Tennis-stub