ITF

ITFWORLD SUMMER 2017 3 www.itftennis.com David Haggerty ITF President As I write this, I have just returned from Ho Chi Minh City, where the Vietnam Tennis Federation did a fantastic job of hosting the successful 2017 ITF Conference & AGM. This was an important assembly with much to share with the nations, and reforms to be debated and voted on. With the theme Delivering for Nations, I was delighted that more nations than ever before were able to attend – 114 in total including 16 Class C nations. We were able to present our plans under the ITF2024 strategy announced last year, in particular the news that new funds worth $11.7 million have been distributed to nations since 2015. The assembly passed the ground-breaking resolution to give the ITF Board of Directors the authority to make changes to Davis Cup and Fed Cup regulations on a trial basis without needing to seek approval from the general membership. This is a vote of confidence in the Board to handle regulations for the ITF's flagship team competitions in an ever- changing landscape, and we thank our members for their support, which will allow for more latitude and flexibility in decision-making. I am pleased that three important reforms were also approved for Davis Cup and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas from 2018. The finalists in both competitions will be guaranteed the choice of hosting their first-round ties in the following year's competition, and match court availability and practice court requirements will be lowered to reduce hosting costs for national associations. For Davis Cup, pre-tie commitments for players will be reduced to a single function combining the draw, post-draw press conferences and interviews, and an official lunch. Unfortunately the proposal for singles matches in Davis Cup to be played as best-of-three tiebreak sets, rather than best-of-five sets, was not approved at the AGM; this reform had a majority vote in favour but not enough to be carried. We respect the decision of the AGM but are disappointed that our member nations did not approve the full package of Davis Cup and Fed Cup reforms endorsed by the Board. Change is needed to ensure the long-term future of our historic competitions and the board will continue to make necessary changes to improve these flagship events. The 2017 AGM was phase one of a series of proposed reforms to Davis Cup and Fed Cup. In June, the Board selected Geneva as the preferred bid to host the World Cup of Tennis Finals, a new combined season-ending event including the finals of Davis Cup and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas. After further consultation with all stakeholders, the Board took the decision to defer bringing this motion to the ITF AGM for vote until 2018. Taking another year to build consensus around the World Cup of Tennis Finals will allow us to finalise an even stronger recommendation to the AGM and ensure the improvements to our team competitions that are still necessary. The ITF has created a World Cup of Tennis Finals task force to consult on the implementation of the event, and also a working group to look at new events. A fixed venue final would be a marquee event providing up to $10 million of new income to develop and grow the sport through the ITF's member nations, which remains the priority of the ITF and its national associations under ITF2024. At this year's Conference & AGM, the ITF was able to announce an increase in funding for tennis development of $4.4 million between 2016 and 2018 and we gave details of existing and newly-launched programmes within the ITF's 2017-2020 Development strategy. As part of ITF's mission to deliver for nations, there were many opportunities at the assembly for discussion and information exchange. The session presented by Olympic Solidarity – which aimed to show nations what OS programmes and funding opportunities are available – was particularly well received, as was the session about the Player Pathway Review and transition tour. As we seek to build closer ties with our member nations, we welcomed the first participant of the ITF Solidarity Programme in the spring. Mingxin Liu of the Chinese Tennis Association spent several weeks at the ITF offices in London learning the ITF's best practices and spending time with various ITF departments to gain a worldwide perspective on the administration of our sport. Ivan Machado from COSAT was our second participant who visited for three weeks. This exchange programme between the ITF and its member nations also give the ITF an insight into each nation's unique challenges. In April the ITF signed a historic Memorandum of Cooperation with the Russian International Olympic University (RIOU) with the joint aim of promoting the importance of education in the tennis family, the Olympic Movement and the wider sports industry. As part of this, I am delighted to announce that the candidate who will receive an ITF scholarship to RIOU, offered by the Vladimir Potanin Foundation for the academic year 2017-18, is Susan Adhiambo of Tennis Kenya. Next up after the US Open will be the eagerly- awaited Davis Cup by BNP Paribas semifinals, which will see France host Serbia in Lille, while neighbours Belgium take on Australia in Brussels for a place in November's final. With the eight Davis Cup World Group play-off ties also taking place, we are guaranteed an intense three days of competition. I wish you every success in the remaining months of the tennis season and thanks for all that you do to grow tennis around the world.

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