David Haggerty has been re-elected as president of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the sport's governing body, until 2027, in another comfortable victory.
Haggerty will serve a third, four-year term in office after securing a majority vote at the ITF annual general meeting in Cancun, Mexico yesterday (September 24).
He received 318 of the 436 votes cast (he needed 215 to win) and defeated Dietloff von Arnim, the president of the German Tennis Federation, who was also in the running.
Haggerty will remain in the role for the 2023-27 period.
The US incumbent also eased to victory at the previous election in 2019, receiving a majority 259 votes.
It was believed that support for Haggerty was not so high on this occasion, with reports that were was some appetite within the tennis world for a change in leadership, with revenues falling and engagement and participation levels down.
However, that was dispelled as Haggerty received almost 73% of the votes.
After his re-election, he said: “I’d like to thank the ITF membership for placing their faith in me for a further term. Our long-term sustainable growth strategy, ITF 2024, has resulted in the ITF’s funding for tennis development nearly doubling in just a few years since its introduction.
“I very much look forward to working alongside our executive and board to review and refresh our strategy for this next phase. We will ensure we place the ITF’s competitions on a strong footing and continue to fuel investment in the global development of our game to deliver the ITF’s mission of tennis for future generations.”
Haggerty's first term in office was marked by his reform of the Davis Cup men's national teams competition.
The ITF introduced a new format for the Davis Cup on the back of a 25-year, $3-billion partnership with Kosmos Tennis, the sports and media investment group founded by Spanish soccer star Gerard Piqué, and with significant financial backing from Hiroshi Mikitani, chairman and chief executive of Rakuten, the Japanese e-commerce company.
However, that long-term agreement was recently ended early and has had a major financial impact on the sport. The termination has also led to a legal battle with Kosmos.
The ITF also announced the results of the elections for its board of directors for the next four years.
The 14 candidates elected to the board are: Von Arnim (Germany), Rafael Westrupp (Brazil), Brian Hainline (USA), Lionel Ollinger (France), Salma Mouelhi Guizani (Tunisia), Bulat Utemuratov (Kazakhstan), Jack Graham (Canada), Nao Kawatei (Japan), Philip Mok (Hong Kong), Roger Davids (Netherlands), David Rawlinson (Great Britain), Carlos Bravo (Costa Rica) Åsa Hedin (Sweden), Jordi Tamayo De Winne (Spain).
