Rafael Nadal and Jelena Jankovic on Wednesday were named as the International Tennis Federation's world champions for 2008.

Wimbledon, French Open and Olympic champion Nadal, who also finished the year as world number one, became the first Spanish male to collect the award.

Nadal also played his part in helping Spain win the Davis Cup so was a clear choice to be named world champion.

The women's award was a tougher decision, with four different Grand Slam winners during the year.

Serb Jankovic was not one of them, but she took the honor after finishing the year as world number one.

She also won more WTA Tour matches than any other player, claimed four titles and reached her first Grand Slam final at the US Open.

Canada's Daniel Nestor and Serb Nenad Zimonjic were named men's doubles world champions - ending the five-year reign of the Bryan brothers - while the Zimbabwe-US pairing of Cara Black and Liezel Huber took the women's award.

Nestor and Zimonjic, playing their first full season together, won the Wimbledon title and beat the Bryans to the season-ending Masters Cup.

Black and Huber are world champions for the second year in a row. The duo surpassed their 2007 effort by capturing 10 titles during the year, including the US Open.

The junior awards went to Chinese Taipei's Yang Tsung-Hua and Thailand's Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, the player who lost to Britain's Laura Robson in the junior Wimbledon final.

They are the first Asian players to be named world champions.

All the award winners will receive their trophies at the ITF World Champions Dinner in Paris on June 2 next year.

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2008)