(ATR) Newly-elected president of the International Tennis Federation, David Haggerty, tells Around the Rings his first order of business is to "build a new team feeling," among the federation leadership.
Haggerty was elected president of the ITF on Sept. 25 at the federation’s general assembly in Santiago, Chile. He won the election on the second ballot amassing 200 votes to runner-up Anil Khanna’s 192; the two other presidential candidates Juan Margets Lobato and Renne Stambach were eliminated on the first ballot.
The close election was not lost on Haggerty, who said that he "looked forward" to working with Khanna and Stambach who were elected to the ITF Board as vice presidents. Lobato will continue to serve as the chief operating officer of the ITF.
"The first thing is to settle the staff down, get to know them so they are comfortable, and work with the talented board with 14 members, of which nine are new," Haggerty said to ATR.
"That means working together and building a team feeling with the board. We can always disagree on what we are doing, but then we need to make decisions and align behind them."
Haggerty said that with his mandate he would focus on three areas, communicating with all 210 member federations, reforming the Davis Cup and Fed Cup formats, and developing the game of tennis all over the world.
Only 101 federations were present for the General Assembly according to Haggerty, a number that needs to increase going forward.
"I am not criticizing anything, but we must look at this to make sure when the regions come in they can have their meetings to be productively," Haggerty said.
"My goal is to increase that and look at ways to look at the assembly to encourage more countries to attend. Part of that could be to look at central locations, lower airfare locations, hotels that are reasonably priced. It is important that every country be there to hear the word and give feedback and grow and develop the game.
Looking forward, Haggerty says that outgoing president Francesco Ricci Bitti is a "terrific role model," to help him settle into the ITF presidency. He also looks forward to tennis at the Rio Olympics, which will be the "highlight of tennis in the city for years."
"We’ll have a test event in December, I’m very excited and go down and attend part of that, and I’ll certainly be there for the Olympics; it’s great for the sport of tennis," Haggerty said.
"I think it is very important that tennis does remain one of the key sports in the Games. I will be working very hard to promote tennis and advocate the sport worldwide and talk about the values that people can play their entire life."
Haggerty said that support from the United States Olympic Committee was vital for his election. He credited the support from chairman Larry Probst and chief executive Scott Blackmun, and said that director of international strategies Dragomir Cioroslan was a "terrific asset," for the election.
"I am honored to be the first American in a while to be running an international federation; it could not have been successful without the help and support of the USOC," Haggerty said.
"When you win by only 8 votes I think Dragomir and the USOC helped carry the day."
Written by Aaron Bauer
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