ITF honors Serena, Federer

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LONDON -- Roger Federer and Serena Williams were selected Tuesday as the International Tennis Federation's world champions of 2009.

Federer, who receives the ITF award for a fifth time, completed a career Grand Slam by winning the French Open and captured a record 15th major title by winning Wimbledon. He also regained the No. 1 ranking from Rafael Nadal.

"It was an incredible year for me both on and off the court," Federer said. "To win my first Roland Garros title, break the all-time Grand Slam record and regain the No. 1 ranking is amazing. It means a lot to me to finish the year again at the top."

Williams, who receives the ITF honor for a second time, won the Australian Open and Wimbledon to bring her career total of Grand Slam titles to 11.

Serena and Venus Williams were selected as women's doubles world champions for the first time, making Serena the first player since Martina Hingis in 1999 to receive both singles and doubles honors.

American twins Bob and Mike Bryan were picked as the men's doubles world champions for a record sixth time.

Daniel Berta of Sweden and Kristina Mladenovic of France were named ITF junior world champions, while the wheelchair awards went to Shingo Kunieda of Japan for the third consecutive year and Esther Vergeer of the Netherlands for the 10th straight year.

The winners will receive their awards at the annual ITF world champions dinner on June 1 in Paris, during the French Open.

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press

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