LISBON: David Haggerty has been re-elected as Presi­dent of the Inter­national Tennis Federation (ITF) after claiming more than 60 percent of votes in the first round of voting at the governing body’s Annual General Meeting on Friday.

The American will serve another four-year term having taken been elected in 2015. Haggerty, who has over­seen a revamp of the ITF’s blue riband event the Davis Cup, beat Ireland’s Dave Miley, Czech Republic’s Ivo Kaderka and India’s Anil Khanna.

The former chief of the US Tennis Association received 259 votes to claim a comfortable victory. Khanna, who lost a narrow vote in 2015, was second again.

“I appreciate your support,” Haggerty, 62, said after the verdict. “I would also like to congratulate Anil, Ivo and David for their hard work in the election.”

Among the tasks facing Haggerty in his second term as president is reform of the Fed Cup. Haggerty oversaw drastic changes to the historic but ailing Davis Cup in his first term, with the ITF agreeing on a 25-year deal for the men’s team competition with the Kosmos agency whose investors include Barce­lona fooballer Gerard Pique.

The revamped Davis Cup arrives in November with 18 nations playing over seven days in a single city, Madrid, to end the 2019 season. It faces competition from new team events, including the Laver Cup co-owned by Roger Federer and played in September since 2017, and the ATP Cup which launches in Australia in January.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2019