Convicted ATP official Justin Gimelstob: No more excuses

It's Monday afternoon, a lawsuit in Los Angeles for a personal injury. The defendant, showing cell phone shots, has taken dozens of times on an earlier friend. The details of that Halloween night in 2018, those who read the victim and his wife in court, are cruel.

After the defendant with a so-called plea of ​​nolo contedere, although the charges are not denied, but also not guilty, the judge sentenced the 42-year-olds to three years on probation and 60 days of community service. The name of the convicted person: Justin Gimelstob.

Tennis fans may think the name familiar. Gimelstob was once a professional, on the side of Venus Williams in 1998 he won the Australian and the French Open in mixed. In the individual, the US made it to number 63 in the world rankings. Gimelstob is obviously even more talented as a networker. After all, he has since not only been coaching top ten player John Isner, he has also been a commentator for the television channel Tennis Channel and has been a member of the Board of Directors in the influential ATP for eleven years.

Scandals survived earlier

The ATP is the association of professional male tennis players. Its President, Chris Kermode, represents the board of directors, which includes three tournament and three player representatives from the Players Council. This ten-man game council saw since the announcement of the allegations no reason to sell Gimelstob, Novak Djokovic as chairman withdrew to the reference to the "current proceedings" back. In fact, there is some evidence that Gimelstob has little to fear even after the conviction.

Lawrence Jackson / AP

Justin Gimelstob in 2008: "If she does not howl, I did not do my job"

Already in the past he has survived so many scandal. Thus Gimelstob was allowed to offend Anna Kurnikowa. Before a show match they were supposed to play in Washington in 2008, he described his opponent on the radio as a "bitch," whom he "detests."

In a one-hour program, he talked himself into a veritable hate speech. Against Kurnikowa, but also against tennis players themselves, which he divided into small and large "sex bombs". He announced that he wanted to hit Kurnikowa hard in the middle of the body with each serve: "If she does not leave the room crying, I did not finish my job." Although Kurnikova has a "great body, her face is only a five". And: "I would not mind if my brother, a sort of stallion, nails her and I can benefit from it." Gimelstob later apologized for the comments.

"The locker room could not be homophobic"

All this happened a few weeks after he was first sent to the ATP board as a player representative. And in a year in which he told the magazine "Out": "The locker room could not be homophobic, we're not killing gays, there's just a lot of positive, normal straight talking about pretty girls, exercising and drinking beer. That's why people want to become competitive athletes. "

Any of these statements would have already been sufficient to deprive Gimelstob of his offices. Instead, he was allowed to continue to represent the sport and its players. As announced a few weeks ago that the end of the year expiring contract by ATP chief Kermode is not renewed, was one of the first names that were traded for succession: Justin Gimelstob.

How could he get that far? What characterizes him that the derailments have played no role in his rise so far? Why do the players see him as a suitable representative? Was there never any concerns?

The big silence

SPIEGEL has asked these questions. To Djokovic as current chairman of the players' representation. To his predecessor Roger Federer and his vice Rafael Nadal. To Vasek Pospisil and Sam Querrey, who along with Isner (to whose team Gimelstob still belongs) are representatives of the Americas region on the Players Council, whose representative on the Board of Directors is Gimelstob. Nobody commented.

Djokovic had already explained at the beginning of the year why the players' representatives would stand up to the verdict behind Gimelstob and therefore hold him. "He was someone who has always fought for the players and represented them in a great way," said the world ranking first. "If he is convicted, that is a completely different situation to which we must devote ourselves."

Gimelstob was found guilty on Monday afternoon. There can not really be any more arguments for him. Or does it?

"Behave with extreme integrity"

The ATP blames the Board of Directors on board member Gimelstob. A current opinion from the chairman Djokovic did not exist so far. The Tennis Channel expressed itself in a message evasive, almost humble. They will find a solution together, they say. A clear signal came from Wimbledon:

Statement in from All England Club. "The AELTC can confirm that Justin Gimelstob has not been invited to participate in the Invitational events, or to attend the Royal Boxing at The Championships in 2019." He had previously played in the doubles every year since 2010

Americas Player Representative Pospisil told portal tennis.life that he did not want to comment on Gimelstob's private life. "However, I'll say that Justin has done an incredible job in his position as a player representative on the ATP board, and he has been extremely honest with the players 'rights over the nine months that I've been in the players' council If he would run again for this position (in the May election in Rome, d. Red.), I and the players of the tour would be happy to have him for another term. "