David Haggerty has just lately been re-elected, for the second consecutive time, president of the Worldwide Tennis Federation, and within the first act of his new mandate he attended the BJK Cup Finals in Seville.
“It was unbelievable. Everyone seems to be collaborating loads. Remodeling a stadium like this into 5 tennis courts fulfills what we imagine is to make this competitors higher yearly. It’s a nice begin. We now have lots of concepts to maintain bettering, however Seville has given us a really heat welcome.”
Within the ambiance that the ITF is searching for, this format is a vital half: “We now have spoken with the groups. Each the gamers and the captains are very pleased, they just like the format and taking part in as a staff. The remainder of the yr they play individually and right here they get collectively as associates. They take pleasure in it. The amenities are nice, they’ve time to coach and the ambiance, meals, transportation and hospitality are superb. All this makes this match a really important tennis occasion.”
As a comparability, he would not need to say a lot in regards to the controversial WTA Finals, as it’s one other group, however “now we have realized that we have to be extra in contact in order that the transition from the Finals to this occasion is smoother. It is vitally good that many gamers determined to return from Cancun, even figuring out that they’d arrive a couple of hours earlier than taking part in. It’s a signal of their dedication to their nations. However now we have to work with the WTA to enhance this. They introduced six weeks upfront the place they had been going to play and we knew we might be in Seville for a lot of months”.
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Haggerty additionally said that he’ll quickly journey to Saudi Arabia, a rustic that wishes to turn out to be a significant participant on the planet of sport: “We have to develop tennis world wide, we’re the guardians of the game globally, and we have to be certain that there are lots of junior and coaching tournaments. The president of the Saudi federation is a girl, and I’ll meet along with her and the Minister of Sports activities to assist us by investing in these occasions. The NextGen Finals are there this yr, in Jeddah, which is ok, however I need to be certain that that there’s a construction in place so that every one their followers, if they’re impressed by what they see, can entry tennis.”
Relating to buildings, the ITF president congratulates Spanish tennis: “Spain is lucky. It has lots of gamers, a lot of them stars. They’ve gained Grand Slams, the Davis Cup, the Billie Jean King Cup. We’re very pleased to have the ability to work with Conchita Martinez, director of those Finals. Arantxa can also be right here… In Spain there are essential names and prestigious tournaments. However above all I spotlight the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup organizations. I do not forget that years in the past, once I was president of the USTA, it was performed in lots of bullrings. That ambiance is what we try to duplicate. I’m additionally impressed that the RFET organizes many junior tournaments. Crucial factor is that there’s a path to the elite for younger folks, and in Spain they’ve many alternatives. Everybody does a really skilled job in creating tennis in Spain, and that is why they’re so profitable.”
Firstly of his third time period as president, Haggerty believes that tennis and the game should face nice challenges: “Within the final eight years now we have made essential choices and modifications, such because the Davis and Billie Jean King Cup codecs. However on the similar time now we have confronted nice challenges, similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now a battle within the Center East, financial issues or COVID. For me an important factor now could be stability, to make us sturdy in order that in a couple of years there will probably be no extra criticism of the codecs, that folks belief us and what we do, that they’ve the identical confidence that I’ve in these modifications. Every part we do is to get the cash wanted to assist nations, particularly these that do not have the assets to develop tennis. I additionally need to discover a successor. I really feel that the subsequent election is the fitting time to step apart.”
He would not precisely think about the consolidation of different racquet sports activities, similar to pickleball or paddleball, a problem, however a focal point: “Tennis is the primary racquet sport, however now we have to concentrate to its variants. In North America, pickleball has grown loads. They work with the Federation. Lots of our nations have duties for paddleball and others want to have them. The ITF can help them in that course of. What we wish is that these variants construct round tennis, that they don’t seem to be within the enterprise of taking gamers away from us, however give extra alternatives for golf equipment and gamers to strive new issues and luxuriate in tennis
