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ITF to honor Court, Federer and Clijsters
2006-06-06 06:56:34 Xinhua English

PARIS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The International Tennis Federation(ITF) will present its highest accolade, the Philippe Chatrier Award, to Australia's Margaret Court at the ITF World Champions Dinner on Tuesday.

The ITF will also honor its 2005 World Champions: Singles Champions Roger Federer (Switzerland) and Kim Clijsters (Belgium), Doubles Champions Bob and Mike Bryan (United States) and Lisa Raymond (United States) and Samantha Stosur (Australia), Junior Champions Donald Young (United States) and Viktoria Azarenka (Belarus) and Wheelchair Champions Michael Jeremiasz (France) and Esther Vergeer (Netherlands).

ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti will present Court with the prestigious award, named after former long-standing ITF President Philippe Chatrier, in recognition of her outstanding achievements in the game of tennis.

When she retired in 1976, Court had become the most prolific major title winner in history, collecting 64 Grand Slam titles -- 24 in singles, 16 in doubles and 24 in mixed doubles.

As a 17-year-old, Court won the first of her 11 Australian Championships and went on to take the next six. The following year, she became the first Australian woman to triumph at Wimbledon, where she would win twice more, and went on to win a further five singles titles each at Roland Garros and the US Open.

Court is one of only three women in the history of tennis to complete the Grand Slam, a feat she achieved in 1970, and is also the only player to have achieved a Grand Slam in both singles and mixed doubles, with compatriot Ken Fletcher in 1963.

She was also instrumental in the formation of the Fed Cup, alongside her legendary rival Billie Jean King, and led three Australian squads to the title as playing captain in 1965, 1968 and 1971.

In 1979, Court was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and in January 2003, Show Court One at Melbourne Park wasrenamed Margaret Court Arena.

Margaret Court now joins an illustrious group of Philippe Chatrier Award winners, namely Stefan Edberg, Chris Evert, Rod Laver, Nicola Pietrangeli, Juan Antonio Samaranch, long-term DavisCup sponsor NEC, Jack Kramer, Billie Jean King, Yannick Noah and last year's winner Tony Trabert. Enditem

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