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 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 a ...

. Its headquarters are located in the

Brussels Capital Region Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, in the municipality of

Ixelles ( French, ) or (Dutch, ), is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Brussels' city centre, it is geographically bisected by the City of Brussels. It is also bordered by the muni ...

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 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 cha ...

* Belgian team at the

Hopman Cup The Hopman Cup is an international eight-team indoor hardcourt tennis tournament that played mixed-gender teams on a country-by-country basis.It was held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, before being replaced on the calen ...

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 * 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