FORGET Fifa president Gianni Infantino and his 48-team World Cup proposal. When it comes to attempting to unify the planet behind a controversial proposed change to a cherished global sporting institution, no-one has more on their plate today than ITF president David Haggerty, as he bids to convince the sport’s numerous stakeholders that the 118-year-old format of the Davis Cup in tennis needs to be brought up to speed for the 21st century.

A vote to be taken in Orlando, Florida, later today will determine whether the current arrangement, pretty much dreamed up by Dwight F Davis back in 1900, bites the dust in favour of a revamped model. The current format, and memorably won by an Andy and Jamie Murray-inspired Great Britain side in Ghent back in 2015, sees a top division of 16 national teams competing over four knockout rounds sprinkled throughout the year – Leon Smith’s GB squad face Uzbekistan in Glasgow in September to stay in this top section, known as the World Group – with a two-team final hosted by one of the finalists. But with the buy-in from the world’s biggest players only patchy, and the event failing to create the kind of revenue streams which could potentially be available, it is hardly a surprise if administrators are getting a little twitchy.

Instead, the new plan, backed by $3bn over 25 years from investment group Kosmos - one of whose founders is Barcelona defender Gerard Pique - envisages the top 18 national teams getting together at a neutral site for a week in November each year to battle it out for the title and a prize money pot which they claim will have doubled in size.

It would include both round-robin matches and knockout ties, in a manner more akin to the World Cups in sports such as football or rugby. Rather than four singles ties and one doubles rubber, matches would be streamlined to three-set matches – two singles matches and one doubles match. A qualifying round would take place in the February to decide which teams make it to the finals.

That isn’t the whole story, though. Because the situation is complicated still further by the fact that the powerful ATP Tour – perhaps sensing a vacuum for such an event - announced during Wimbledon this year that it is going ahead with its own plan for a World Team Cup, to be hosted for the first time in Australia in January 2020. Could tennis sustain two world team competitions to be played within two months of each other?

That is the backdrop to the vote of the 147 ITF member nations today, with a two thirds majority required to pass. While Haggerty said yesterday that he was confident he had the votes for the proposal to go ahead, that is hardly a given. A handful of powerful traditional tennis nations – including United States, Britain, France and Australia – hold the balance of power with 12 votes each. The reform is unlikely to find favour with Tennis Australia, considering the stake they have in the ATP event. “I think at this point and time we have the votes, but I don’t underestimate anything,” Haggerty was quoted as saying.

Having been lobbied fairly hard, perhaps by some unlikely sources, the LTA surprised many last night when they announced that Britain’s 12 votes would be cast in rejection of the move, and would prefer further development of the idea before they are in a position to cast approval. Anyone who has ever attended a Great Britain Davis Cup tie, in Glasgow or elsewhere, would have been aware of a blue-clad exuberant group of ‘ultra’ supporters. They are known as the Stirling Uni Barmy Army (SUBA), and they have attempted to exercise what clout they have to ensure that home and away ties – which they see as the lifeblood of the event- remain crucial to the competition going forward. Not only is the raucous, football-style involvement of the crowd is one the tournament’s unique selling points, it is a rare chance to see top class tennis played in Scotland. A poll of members resulted in 88.9% being against the plan. “Davis Cup tennis makes professional tennis accessible in areas where there are no tour level, or equivalent, tennis events,” a SUBA statement read. “Using Scotland as an example, the home of SUBA, it has held numerous Davis Cup ties in recent years in a country that has not hosted a tour level tournament despite producing World No 1 players in singles and doubles.” Scotland may be just a small voice but at least is being heard.