Tennis Related - Off Court Serious Issues

[Fastbackss]

That Sabalenka respinse is wholly unsurprising

And uninspiring

[Fastbackss]

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario was handed a two-year suspended jail sentence for fraud (trying to avoid paying back a bank).

It will be suspended for the next two years and is subject to her not committing any further criminal acts

[ashkor87]

Shades of Becker!! My word, these European banks are merciless!

[ti-amie]

The comments are worth reading.

[Owendonovan]

Well, if he misses the French, he misses the French. The band will play on.

[ti-amie]

Alexander Zverev’s Australian Open run is nightmare for tennis
With domestic abuse allegations hanging over Australian Open semi-finalist, time has come for tennis to properly address issue

Molly McElwee
26 January 2024 • 9:39am

Under the lights in front of a packed Rod Laver Arena, domestic violence was finally brought to the forefront of the conversation at the Australian Open.

No, Alexander Zverev, who is due to face trial in May, was not on court. Instead player-turned-broadcaster Jelena Dokic, herself a survivor of domestic abuse, conducted the post-match interview with Aryna Sabalenka. She took matters into her own hands and asked Sabalenka to sign a towel, adding: “We will auction it off for kids and women affected by domestic violence.”

It was a brief but powerful moment from a woman who revealed in 2017 her experience of physical violence and abuse by her father, as a cloud continues to hang over this tournament.

On Friday, Olympic champion Zverev will compete for a place in the Australian Open final. His progress at this event has brought to life the nightmare scenario that tennis executives have been dreading.

Last week news broke that world No 6 will face a public trial in Germany on allegations of domestic violence. It is the latest in a series of claims laid against Zverev, all of which he has consistently denied.

In the event he goes on to win the title on Sunday, his off-court situation will escalate into a full-blown PR disaster for the ATP and Tennis Australia. Regardless, his run in Melbourne has brought tennis’s lack of a domestic-violence policy into sharp focus.

Dokic’s decision to knuckle down on the issue on Thursday was completely of her own initiative. It served as a message that be the sport has dragged its feet, instead of finalising a code that would deal with this Zverev situation.

When news of his upcoming trial was made public, the ATP told Telegraph Sport: “We are aware of the upcoming legal trial involving Alexander Zverev, and will not be commenting until that process is complete.” From a legal standpoint they are in a sticky situation, as they have failed to introduce any guidelines which would give them power to ban a player from competing on such grounds.

Allegations of domestic abuse have followed Zverev for nearly four years. First Olya Sharypova, a former Russian player and girlfriend of his, alleged that Zverev physically and emotionally abused her during their relationship, including claims he punched her in the face at the 2019 ATP Masters in Shanghai. Her allegations were published by Russian media in 2020 and later by Slate magazine, though she did not pursue any legal avenues against Zverev who called her allegations ‘untrue’.

At the time Andy Murray, among others, called on the ATP to implement a domestic abuse policy. The ATP have repeatedly said they are in the process of delivering one but, more than three years on, that is yet to materialise.

Sport is not known for being proactive in dealing with issues of gendered violence, yet the ATP need not look too far to find domestic violence policies that do exist across various leagues. The NFL’s is the most high profile, after a number of players were accused of assault or violent conduct off the field. Their policy now allows for the league to put players on paid leave if formally charged with a felony offence or crime of violence. Players can also still be disciplined even if they are not legally convicted of any crime, as the evidence found by the NFL’s internal investigations can be enough to prove their policy was broken.

The men’s tennis tour still has no such rules. It took nearly a year after Sharypova first made her allegations public for the ATP to commission an investigation, in late 2021. That took 15 months and in January 2023 found “insufficient evidence to substantiate published allegations of abuse”. Zverev cooperated fully with the investigation – even handing over phone records – but, crucially, was free to play throughout.

During that time he failed to reach the final of a major, but has played in four semi-finals over the past three seasons. It is unsurprising that he is now in his fifth, and two wins away from clinching the biggest title of his career.

He will do so while contending with formal legal proceedings, pertaining to a second batch of allegations from Brenda Patea, his former girlfriend and mother to his daughter. She alleges he choked her during an argument in 2020. She reported the event to police in October 2021, and a German judge found sufficient evidence to issue Zverev with a penalty order in November 2023 to the tune of a €450,000 fine.

Zverev called the penalty order “complete bull----” and the upcoming trial is a result of him appealing that decision. It will see his case played out over 10 days in court, beginning in May and overlapping with both the French Open and Wimbledon. Though he is not required to be present in Berlin for the trial, it is possible that Zverev may enter the next two majors while a court case rages on in the background.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2024 ... ce-charge/

[Suliso]

Let's say ATP suspends him for a year. He then comes back and wins a Slam. Now what?

[meganfernandez]

Let's say ATP suspends him for a year. He then comes back and wins a Slam. Now what?

Now nothing. If he's allowed to play, what is there to say or do if he wins?

[ashkor87]

Well, if you can be President from jail....

[Suliso]

Let's say ATP suspends him for a year. He then comes back and wins a Slam. Now what?

Now nothing. If he's allowed to play, what is there to say or do if he wins?

Of course nothing, but the article was about tennis image and public relations...

[ponchi101]

Let's say ATP suspends him for a year. He then comes back and wins a Slam. Now what?

Now nothing. If he's allowed to play, what is there to say or do if he wins?

Of course nothing, but the article was about tennis image and public relations...

Plus this thing about guilty until proven innocent (public court of opinion's sense of how the law works).

[nelslus]

Now nothing. If he's allowed to play, what is there to say or do if he wins?

Of course nothing, but the article was about tennis image and public relations...

Plus this thing about guilty until proven innocent (public court of opinion's sense of how the law works).

Sure, innocent before proven guilty. He'll get his day in court. But, IMO, in this case, this feels tone-deaf.

I am a lot more concerned about actual punishments for horrendous abusers of women. So far, two ex-girlfriends have accused him of domestic abuse.

[ti-amie]

Of course nothing, but the article was about tennis image and public relations...

Plus this thing about guilty until proven innocent (public court of opinion's sense of how the law works).

Sure, innocent before proven guilty. He'll get his day in court. But, IMO, in this case, this feels tone-deaf.

I am a lot more concerned about actual punishments for horrendous abusers of women. So far, two ex-girlfriends have accused him of domestic abuse.

This is the report by Racquet magazine. The original news report has been taken down due to the legal proceedings in Germany. This includes screenshots of text messages in Russian.

https://racquetmag.com/2020/11/05/olyas-story/

[Owendonovan]

I find her 100% believable and his PR statement remarkably weak and frankly this, " Mr. Zverev regrets that Mrs. Sharypova continues to feed the public without having spoken to him. We are still working towards achieving the reasonable and respectful dialogue Alexander mentioned in his original statement.” is him trying to perpetuate the abuse as it fits right into how he treated Olga. That he hasn't been dropped by anyone yet is a shameful commentary on the treatment of women, celebrity worship, capitalism at all costs, and tennis, amongst others.

[meganfernandez]

I find her 100% believable and his PR statement remarkably weak and frankly this, " Mr. Zverev regrets that Mrs. Sharypova continues to feed the public without having spoken to him. We are still working towards achieving the reasonable and respectful dialogue Alexander mentioned in his original statement.” is him trying to perpetuate the abuse as it fits right into how he treated Olga. That he hasn't been dropped by anyone yet is a shameful commentary on the treatment of women, celebrity worship, capitalism at all costs, and tennis, amongst others.

Why does he think she would speak to him about this, anyway? And agree that it's sad no one had dropped him. We don't know everything that happened between them, but these things usually don't come out of nowhere. IE, most people are NOT accused of beating up their significant others.