Francesco Ricci Bitti (born 15 January 1942) is an Italian sports administrator and former tennis player who has presided over the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) since 2013. Since 2015 he has been honorary life president of the

International Tennis Federation The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there ...

(ITF).

Biography

Ricci Bitti was born in Faenza,

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

. He studied electrical engineering at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continu ...

. He has a PhD in Electronic Engineering from Bologna University and an MBA from ISTUD Milan. He was a member of the Italian National Junior Tennis Team (1960), and won the Italian University Tennis Championships (1962, 1964, 1965). He then played international tennis (1964–71), and was a member of the Italian National Team Tennis Championships (1970–71). In his business career, he has served on boards of directors of Phillips, GTE,

Olivetti Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. Headquartered in Ivrea, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, the company has been par ...

Alcatel Alcatel may refer to: * Alcatel, a former French telecommunications equipment company, which became Alcatel-Lucent and is now part of Nokia * Alcatel Mobile, a brand of mobile phones, tablets and wearables, formerly a joint venture between Alcatel ...

, and Telecom Italy. In his career in sports administration, he has been Chairman and a member of the

Tennis Europe Tennis Europe (formerly known as the European Tennis Association) was formed in Rome, Italy on 31 May 1975 by a group of 17 European national tennis federations as a regional governing body for the sport of tennis and under the auspices of the Int ...

Junior Competitions Committees (1977–97), technical delegate for tennis at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

, President of Tennis Europe (1993–99), a member of the Italian National Olympic Committee Council (1997–99), President of the Italian Tennis Federation (1997–99), a mediator at the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its c ...

(1999–), a member of the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key ...

Foundation Board (2001–), a member of the Executive Board of the

Italian National Olympic Committee The Italian National Olympic Committee ( it, Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano, CONI), founded in 1914 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is responsible for the development and management of sports activity in Italy. ...

(2006–12), and a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency Executive Committee (2008–).

ITF

He was Chairman and a member of the

(ITF) Junior Competitions Committees from 1977 to 1997, and a member of the ITF Board of Directors from 1987 to 1997. He was also an ITF representative at the 1992 Olympic Games and the

1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, The ITF runs the four tennis Grand Slam tournaments, the Davis Cup, and

Fed Cup The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was chan ...

. He served as President of the ITF from 1999 to 2015. He was re-elected President of the ITF for a fourth term (2011–15) at the 2011 ITF Annual General Meeting. In November 2013, after Tunisia was suspended from the

2014 Davis Cup The 2014 Davis Cup (also known as the 2014 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas for sponsorship purposes) was the 103rd edition of the tournament between national teams in men's tennis. The final took place between the 21–23 of November 2014 in Lille, Fran ...

competition when Tunisian player

Malek Jaziri Malek Jaziri ( ar, مالك الجزيري, Mālik al-Jazīrī; born January 20, 1984) is a Tunisian professional tennis player. Jaziri reached his highest singles ranking on the ATP Tour of World 42 in January 2019. He reached the final of ...

was ordered by the Tunisian Tennis Federation not to compete against Israeli player

Amir Weintraub Amir Weintraub ( he, אמיר ויינטרוב; born 16 September 1986) is an Israeli professional tennis player. In 2010, he won the Israeli Tennis Championship. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 161 in May 2012. Career ...

at the 2013 Tashkent Challenger, Bitti said: "There is no room for prejudice of any kind in sport or in society."

ASOIF

He was a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations Council (2001–09), and is now President of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ricci-Bitti, Francesco 1942 births Living people International Tennis Federation Presidents of the International Tennis Federation World Anti-Doping Agency members Italian male tennis players