Revamping the Davis Cup and Fed Cup and introducing a series of initiatives to help the sport's development were the key elements of the American's election manifesto but had to be shelved following a tumultuous opening few months during which the sport found itself at the centre of a match-fixing scandal and its most glamorous player failed a drugs test.

The scandals rocked tennis to its very core but they have clearly failed to knock Haggerty off his stride or divert him off the path he believes is most important. "Development is really the thread that runs through my ITF accomplishments and my hopes and dreams," he said. 

Haggerty, the former chairman of Head USA after working as a senior executive at Prince and Dunlop, had barely been in position for three months after being elected to replace Italian Francesco Ricci Bitti, who stood down after 16 years, in September 2015 when tennis was hit by claims of match-fixing on the opening day of the Australian Open in Melbourne in January. There were claims of widespread rigging of matches - including at Wimbledon - organised by Russian and Italian gambling syndicates.

Then, in March, Maria Sharapova revealed she had tested positive for the banned substance meldonium at the Australian Open that January. The ITF gave her a two-year ban in June but the Russian appealed and in October it was reduced to 15 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, meaning she is eligible to return to competition on April 26. It is fair to say that Sharapova's return has divided opinion.

Haggerty, though, has tried to move on from these crises and instead concentrate on making sure he begins reshaping tennis in the image he imagined. The most high-profile of these changes has been to the Davis Cup. Among the most eye-catching changes proposed are shortening matches to three sets and holding the final at a neutral venue - or "fixed" as Haggerty insists on calling it (which is an unfortunate phase for any tennis administrator to be using...)

"We think it will make the competition stronger, more exciting and great for television," Haggerty told insidethegames at the SportAccord Convention in Aarhus last week. "These will be the first changes we have made for 50 years and I think it will really elevate the competition. In addition to that we are looking at a fixed final. 

"Why? It all comes back to development. We want to distribute more money to the nations. It's the World Cup of tennis. It's one of the key five elements on the tour and we want to make sure that we have the best season-ending event that can raise more revenue. That money then goes back to the nations to develop tennis which is really what our goal is."

Changes in the Fed Cup include extending the competition to 16 teams and having a final four, with the event again taking place at a neutral venue. While these changes have been widely welcomed, there is some dispute over the proposals for the Davis Cup.

Haggerty has travelled to Rouen this weekend to attend the Davis Cup quarter-final tie between France and Great Britain. On the eve of the match, France's captain Yannick Noah claimed to be "heartbroken" over the demise of the competition, blaming "privileged people acting like privileged people".  

Britain's Jamie Murray, the brother of Sir Andy, meanwhile, claimed that Haggerty had introduced his changes in the face of opposition from the players.

The former world number one doubles player explained: "Dave made a speech to the Players' Council and we gave our opinions and then the next day the message was, 'We are going ahead anyway'. Neutral final, that sort of stuff.

"The players do not want that but they are pushing ahead. And we told them the best of three sets for the singles, but that was months ago.

"It needs to change for the sake of their event because they are losing the top players. It is not as special as it used to be which is a shame because it is a great event and we all love it."

Haggerty, though, is determined to make sure that the players feel they are part of the solution and help ensure they remain motivated by the unique nature of the Davis Cup. "The most important thing is to work with the players to make them understand why these changes are good for them," he said. "Players are always going to make decisions in shorter careers and a lot of decisions are made around money. 

"Playing for your country in a Davis Cup or Fed Cup match goes beyond money, it's the experience of becoming a national hero, very similar to the Olympics. 

"Players can't always agree on their opinions. They may sometimes change their minds and they are perfectly entitled to do that. I have worked really hard to consult with the tours and the players, maybe to a fault. 

"Some of these other events just happen, they make a decision and they don't care as much about whether people are happy or not about it. We have tried to take care to really work with our constituents to make the best of it we can and have buy-in from the group."

One solution, suggested by five-time Davis Cup winner John McEnroe, is for the event to revert to a bi-annual basis. Haggerty, however, does not back that plan. "We have really looked at so many permutations and possibilities," he said. "It is our diamond, the most important asset we have. So we have to treat it with care.

"We believe having it on an annual basis is very, very important. It is played in 126 nations and in some of those countries it is the only professional tennis they have. So not to be able to have it on a yearly basis we wouldn't be doing our job as an International Federation and growing the sport and bringing tennis to places it may not be without us."

Promoting the sport beyond its traditionally strong areas seems to be particularly important to Haggerty. 

"Development is the core, that's why we live," he said. "It's our mission to develop and grow the game of tennis.  That's why something like the Davis Cup - and really elevating that, getting more money for sponsorship, for broadcasting - is going to give us revenue that will all go back to the nations. That helps them then spend money and develop."

Haggerty also wants to ensure that professional tennis establishes a more sustainable model. Everyone hears about the likes of Serena Williams and Roger Federer, multi-millionaires on the back of their success on the court. But they are the exception and the majority of tennis players are struggling to make ends meet. According to a 2014 study by the ITF, over half of prize money is paid to the top one per cent of competitors.

Haggerty estimates that there are thousands of players who are trying to earn a living from the sport but that only the top 250 men and top 325 women actually make enough to break even. He wants to introduce a new transition tour which will allow the top 750 men and women to make a living from the sport. Final details are still to be worked out but Haggerty wants the money to be spread around more evenly. 

"We have just determined that we will have about 750 players at the top of the game who are the true professionals," he said. "We will develop the new transition tour with the top junior players to see if they can get through to the pros. It can be a long journey to get through there. We are trying to make the transition tour a way to get promoted or relegated from the professional ranks so the talented players can move through more efficiently and effectively to the top of the game.

"The average age of the top 100 player is now 27, 28 years old. That takes a long time for a junior player to survive funding-wise and come up through the ranks. So there's a bit of bottle-neck and what this will do is create a chance for level-based play so players of equal standard will be competing together. This will really be a chance for these players to compete against themselves and for the cream to rise to the top."

If more players are earning a decent living from the sport it may, some have speculated, lead to less cases of corruption. It is rumoured that some top players have been involved in match-fixing in the past but the only ones who have been caught so far are at the lower end of the scale, where the economics is harsher and the temptation to throw a match for a few thousand dollars so much greater. Haggerty, though, claims those prepared to sacrifice their sport would probably do it anyway. 

"It will help more players at the top make a living, whereas right now they struggle," he said. "To me I have always said people either have a moral compass or they don't. It's not about whether this will cause them to make poor judgments less frequently - they are either going to do it or they won't. This is really to make a more sustainable system and to have enough prize money for those players to be true professionals."

An independent group set up by the ITF is studying the claims made during the 2016 Australian Open following a BuzzFeed News and BBC investigation which alleged to have uncovered widespread evidence of match-fixing in tennis. It is due to announce its findings within the next month. 

"We want parents to put their kids into this sport because they believe in it," said Haggerty. "Tennis has to be held up above every other sport. We've got to be clean, we've got to be the sport that people aspire to play. 

"We will see what the Review Panel comes back with and we will be implementing those changes."

There is little doubt, though, that tennis' reputation has suffered with the rush which some tournament directors and sponsors have been willing to welcome Sharapova back into the sport. A number of players on the Women's Tennis Association Tour have expressed their disappointment at the decision to offer the 29-year-old automatic entry into some big tournaments over the next few weeks.

All of which means the five-time Grand Sam winner will not have to pre-qualify for events in Stuttgart, Madrid and Rome. Sharapova may also receive wildcards for Grand Slam tournaments in Paris and at Wimbledon. She is due to return at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart on April 26, the day her ban ends. 

If Haggerty is upset by the warm welcome back that many in his sport seem to be offering Sharapova, then he is hiding it well. 

"Integrity is all about protecting the clean athletes," he said. "We went through the process. She had her suspension but now she's served that suspension. I think a lot of junior and younger players have learnt from this experience. It was certainly a lesson that she's learnt from.

"It's not my role to take sides and talk about how the players feel. I think they have been quoted in the press and have said what they wanted to. From the pure rules perspective she has served her suspension and is able to come back. It's not our decision as the ITF to determine whether she receives wildcards. It's up to each tournament to make that individual decision."

Whatever Haggerty really thinks, he must be looking forward to the controversy over Sharapova being behind him. A happier comeback has been that this year of Federer and his old rival, Spain's Rafael Nadal. The two met in the final of the Australian Open in January with the Swiss coming out on top to claim the 18th Grand Slam victory of his career. 

At the age of 35 it is truly a remarkable comeback by Federer and he has proved his win in Melbourne was no fluke with further victories at Indian Wells and the Miami Masters.

"I was in Majorca at the opening of Nadal's Academy last October and Roger was there," said Haggerty. "I was walking around with both of them afterwards and they were laughing and joking that they were both injured and trying to come back. They said they were both going to Australia but didn't expect to do that well. 

"So, I'm standing in Melbourne after Roger's won and he comes up says, 'I guess I was ready'. 

"It's good for the sport."