David Haggerty has recently been re-elected, for the second consecutive time, president of the International Tennis Federation, and in the first act of his new mandate he attended the BJK Cup Finals in Seville.
“It was fantastic. Everyone is collaborating a lot. Transforming a stadium like this into five tennis courts fulfills what we believe is to make this competition better every year. It is a great start. We have a lot of ideas to keep improving, but Seville has given us a very warm welcome.”
In the atmosphere that the ITF is looking for, this format is an important part: “We have spoken with the teams. Both the players and the captains are very happy, they like the format and playing as a team. The rest of the year they play individually and here they get together as friends. They enjoy it. The facilities are great, they have time to train and the atmosphere, food, transportation and hospitality are very good. All this makes this tournament a very main tennis event.”
As a comparison, he doesn’t want to say much about the controversial WTA Finals, as it is another organization, but “we have learned that we need to be more in touch so that the transition from the Finals to this event is smoother. It is very good that many players decided to come from Cancun, even knowing that they would arrive a few hours before playing. It is a sign of their commitment to their countries. But we have to work with the WTA to improve this. They announced six weeks in advance where they were going to play and we knew we would be in Seville for many months”.
Haggerty also stated that he will soon travel to Saudi Arabia, a country that wants to become a major player in the world of sport: “We need to develop tennis around the world, we are the guardians of the sport globally, and we need to ensure that there are a lot of junior and training tournaments. The president of the Saudi federation is a woman, and I will meet with her and the Minister of Sports to help us by investing in these events. The NextGen Finals are there this year, in Jeddah, which is fine, but I want to make sure that there is a structure in place so that all their fans, if they are inspired by what they see, can access tennis.”
Regarding structures, the ITF president congratulates Spanish tennis: “Spain is fortunate. It has a lot of players, many of them stars. They have won Grand Slams, the Davis Cup, the Billie Jean King Cup. We are very happy to be able to work with Conchita Martinez, director of these Finals. Arantxa is also here… In Spain there are important names and prestigious tournaments. But above all I highlight the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup organizations. I remember that years ago, when I was president of the USTA, it was played in many bullrings. That atmosphere is what we are trying to replicate. I am also impressed that the RFET organizes many junior tournaments. The most important thing is that there is a path to the elite for young people, and in Spain they have many opportunities. Everyone does a very professional job in developing tennis in Spain, and that’s why they are so successful.”
At the beginning of his third term as president, Haggerty believes that tennis and the sport have to face great challenges: “In the last eight years we have made very important decisions and changes, such as the Davis and Billie Jean King Cup formats. But at the same time we have faced great challenges, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now a conflict in the Middle East, economic problems or COVID. For me the most important thing now is stability, to make us strong so that in a few years there will be no more criticism of the formats, that people trust us and what we do, that they have the same confidence that I have in these changes. Everything we do is to get the money needed to help countries, especially those that don’t have the resources to develop tennis. I also want to find a successor. I feel that the next election is the right time to step aside.”
He doesn’t exactly consider the consolidation of other racquet sports, such as pickleball or paddleball, a challenge, but a point of interest: “Tennis is the main racquet sport, but we have to pay attention to its variants. In North America, pickleball has grown a lot. They work with the Federation. Many of our countries have responsibilities for paddleball and others would like to have them. The ITF can assist them in that process. What we want is that these variants build around tennis, that they are not in the business of taking players away from us, but give more opportunities for clubs and players to try new things and enjoy tennis