15 February 2026
TTF Referees Summit Held in Antalya
Organized by the Türkiye Tennis Federation, the TTF Referees Summit was held at the Megasaray Westbeach Hotel in Antalya on February 13–15, 2026.
Aiming to contribute to the professional development of tennis referees and to create a common vision in line with current practices, the summit consisted of comprehensive content over three days. This included rules and procedure training, ethics and discipline topics, communication and emotional intelligence-focused sessions, safe sports, gender equality, updated national and international practices, and refereeing responsibilities.
Within the scope of the summit, evaluation and information sessions were also held on procedures in unumpired matches, line, observation, and chair umpire practices, head refereeing processes, national tournament instructions, and tennis rules. The program was planned to support participant interaction with question-and-answer and interactive evaluation sections.
International Participation
The Head of Officiating at the International Tennis Federation (ITF), Iain Smith, attended the summit as the keynote speaker. Sharing the current approaches in global officiating practices and ITF standards, Smith placed a special emphasis on ethical rules.
“A referee is the focal point of that sports branch”
Addressing the referees on the second day of the summit, TTF President Ms. Şafak Müderrisgil made comprehensive evaluations regarding the federation's work over the past 15 months and her vision for the refereeing system.
Stating that they have prioritized stakeholder meetings since their first day in office, Ms. Müderrisgil expressed that they have created a data-driven strategy through workshops, club gatherings, and provincial representative meetings. She conveyed that they have strengthened the corporate structure in line with the principles of good governance, transparency, and accountability, created financial resources for young athletes with the Tennis Support Fund, and aimed to spread tennis to the grassroots with the "Let's Go to Tennis" (Haydi Tenise) Project. She emphasized that through coach trainings, international collaborations, and the organization of over 600 tournaments, Türkiye has reinforced its position as a center of attraction for international tennis.
Also sharing data regarding the refereeing system, Ms. Müderrisgil stated that there are 7,017 registered referees, 665 referees renewed their visas in 2025, and 365 referees renewed their visas in the first 1.5 months of 2026. She noted that 507 referees served in tournaments in 2025, and 213 referees registered for the summit.
Drawing attention to the central role of refereeing in the tennis ecosystem in her speech, Ms. Müderrisgil included the following statements:
"A referee is the focal point of that sports branch. Refereeing is a value taken as a reference to determine the position and stance of other stakeholders in a sports branch. You are the important representatives possessing high-level knowledge and ethics who determine the quality of this ecosystem. In tennis, you start the game, and you end it. Your role is very, very important."
Emphasizing that the refereeing system needs to be evaluated in terms of both quantity and quality, Ms. Müderrisgil pointed out the importance of reviewing ethical rules and procedures together. At the end of her speech, Ms. Müderrisgil thanked the Ministry of Youth and Sports for their support, and expressed her gratitude to the members of the Central Referee Board, the instructing speakers, the Megasaray family for their hosting and in-kind sponsorship support, the TTF teams, and the ITF Head of Officiating, Iain Smith, for their contributions.
15 February 2026
