Stan Wawrinka pens open letter on chaos going on in men's tennis
In a letter published in The Times, Stan Wawrinka shared his thoughts on the tough time that the ATP Tour is going through. Earlier this year, it was announced that the ATP Chief Executive Chris Kermode would leave the Board in the end of the year, then now Justin Gimelstob has decided to leave the Board with immediate effect following the verdict of the assault case he was involved in.
“I am relieved that Justin Gimelstob has finally had the decency to resign from the ATP board after being sentenced for assault, but I am dismayed by how long this took," wrote Wawrinka, who is competing in Madrid Open. "I am also concerned that many within the game think this episode is now over, and are simply relieved at having avoided any negative press themselves. This is not good enough. We are ALL accountable and we must ALL learn from this. There is no place in our sport for those who behave like Justin. The lack of responses from people involved in the game, particularly at the beginning of this saga, when he was charged last December, was alarming. This is a situation where silence amounts to complicit."
Through his Facebook page earlier this week Gimelstob wrote: "It has been an honor to represent the players, who I believe are the greatest athletes in the world. Thank you to the current Player Council and all the Player Council members throughout my 11 years as an ATP Board Member that have selflessly given their time to improve the sport. I want to thank all of my fellow Board Members - it has been a pleasure working with you all. I want to thank our incredible ATP staff and team, the ATP Tournaments and the entire tennis family for letting me be part of your inner circle."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2ZPJ9UG
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