In the wake of Greg Rusedski's positive drugs test, the game's complicated and confusing governing structure has once again come under the microscope.
Who does what, and where does the real power lie?
The ATP
The Association of Tennis Professionals is the body that runs the men's professional game.
As such, it is the organisation responsible for dealing with Greg Rusedski's failed drugs test.
Uneasy relationship: ITF president Francesco Ricci Bitti (left) and ATP chief executive Mark Miles
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Under the ATP's 2004 anti-doping program, Rusedski will be given a hearing in front of an independent tribunal, with the right to appeal any decision to the Court for Arbitration in Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The ATP's power has grown with the rise of the modern game since the end of the amateur era.
At its inception in 1972 the ATP was simply the players' union, but in 1988 - led by Mats Wilander and Tim Mayotte - it presented a document at the US Open called "Tennis at the Crossroads".
The plan set out a breakaway series of tournaments where the players, disgruntled with what they saw as a lack of power under the old system, had a much greater say.
That tour became reality in January 1990, representing the biggest shift in the running of men's tennis since the start of the Open era in 1968.
Until 1990, the men's professional game had been run by the Men's International Professional Tennis Council (MIPTC), which was composed of representatives of the key three parties - officials (the International Lawn Tennis Federation), players (the ATP) and tournament organisers.
The ATP has been under financial pressure since the collapse in 2001 of its billion-dollar television and marketing rights deal with Swiss sports marketing company ISL.
In April last year a breakaway player's union - the International Men's Tennis Association (IMTA) - was formed in response to growing criticism of the ATP.
Leading players including Lleyton Hewitt, Marat Safin and Roger Federer signed up, concerned about what they perceived to be the declining popularity of men's professional tennis and the way the ATP was running the game.
There is also criticism of what some see as a conflict of interest in the ATP's role in doping cases like Rusedski's.
How, ask the critics, can the body which fights for the player's rights also be responsible for dealing with his positive drug test?
The ITF
The International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, amateur and professional.
It looks after the game's rules and regulations, organises the major international team events (the Davis Cup and Fed Cup) and promotes the development of tennis around the world.
The ITF and ATP have been uneasy bedfellows for some time. The ITF is believed to be unhappy at the way the ATP Tour and its counterpart, the WTA Tour, are run - not least the length and intensity of its season.
In turn the ATP feels that the ITF does not make enough of the Davis and Fed Cups and should use its influence to divert more of the revenue from the Grand Slam events to the players themselves.
Formed in 1913, the ITF dropped the word "lawn" from its title in 1977 and is based in Roehampton, west London.
The Grand Slam Committee
The committee is made up of representatives of the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open, plus the ITF.
The four are in turn run by their respective national governing bodies and are independent of the ATP.
When the ATP broke from the ITF in 1989, the Grand Slam tournaments remained loyal to the world governing body.
The ATP has threatened a player boycott of Slam events in 2004 unless it receives a 30% increase in revenue to help fund the tour.
The tournaments themselves argue that the existing prize money is adequate, and that to give more to the ATP would mean cutting back on the money they invest in grass-roots tennis.
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