I didn’t realise in the beginning that I would need to be as thick-skinned as I have had to be. “Not everybody’s going to agree with you all the time, but I think you also know that sometimes opposition isn’t always rational: it can be political opposition, it can be undermining you for other reasons. I think that’s where you just have to stay focused, you have to stay committed, you have to have strong beliefs, and you have to follow through on them. At the same time, you’ve got to listen, because a great ideamight become a greater idea. Ideas that other people contribute can turn a good solution into a fantastic one.” After giving up on his personal dream to become a professional tennis player, Haggerty had a long career working for tennis manufacturers. He started at Prince (a company he ended up buying) beforemoving on to Dunlop Slazenger and then becoming chairman of Head. Howdoes he find the difference between running a commercial business, inwhich he canmake important decisions quickly, and heading an international federation comprisingmore than 200 countries? “It is more time-consuming,” Haggerty admitted. “I am accountable to the nations, as I should be, so I have to listen to what their needs are.” Haggerty has learned that patience and perseverance are essential, but he also believes that leadership is about demonstrating the direction he wants to take. “I think a lot of the excitement for me is trying to bring change,” he said. “I like to have visions and I like to share themwith people and then try to bring people along withme. But it’s also complex, because you have 200 nations, many different cultures, many different languages and nations in different stages of development - somemore advanced and some less advanced. It’s complex but also very exciting, because it gaveme a task different to any others that I had had before inmy career.” Haggerty has visitedmore than 100 ITFmember nations since he became president in 2015. He reckons that in “normal” years he spends 60 per cent of his time on the road. With the pandemic curtailingmuch of
Russia's players (top) enjoy their victory in last year's Billie Jean King Cup Finals, in which Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (above) won two of her three singles rubbers
do that would be through additional funding - and the ITF had been pretty flat in revenue for about five or six years. “Having seen at the USTAwhat a Grand Slamevent can bringmademe think about both the Davis Cup andwhat was then the Fed Cup. I thought: ‘Boy, these are two really fantastic assets, along with the Olympics, so we’ve got to findways tomake thembetter.’ That’s where I began to put my focus andmy energy. Our revenues were roughly $50mwhen I arrived andwe’re almost three times that now.” Haggerty knew that there would be opposition to his plans, having already experienced some negative reactions to the changes he had championed at the USTA. “As they say, if youwant tomake an omelette, you’ve got to break a couple of eggs,” he said. “However,
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