Tennis Related - Off Court Serious Issues

[ponchi101]

But she is keeping some perspective. I like that she understands that within that range of emotions you describe, keeping the perspective that pressure to win a tennis match is not the same as the pressure to pay for your kids' food is important.
Ages ago, when Becker was at the top, he was asked about how he dealt with defeats. He replied along the lines that "I just tell myself that the worst thing that can happen to me is that I lose a tennis match on a Sunday afternoon". I thought that was a healthy approach.

DEPRESSION, in upper case, is not the same as sadness; that is what I disagree with some people about. Being sad is not fun, but it is not the same as being depressed. The way I read her statement is that sure, nobody is expecting for you to be elated after losing a big match. Of course you can be sad (and most probably will be). But keep a little perspective and remind yourself of how well you are doing, and that may help avoid depresion.

[ti-amie]

Tumaini Carayol
@tumcarayol@sportsbots.xyz
During the past four years, the ITF transformed the Davis Cup with Kosmos, ploughed on with Kosmos even as people wondered whether the £ added up, ended its $3b partnership with Kosmos 21 years early and ended up in court with Kosmos. And yet:

[ponchi101]

And the Laver Cup experiment seems to be stalling.
So there is a real need for a country-based event. The Laver Cup is not it, and this silly DC format does nothing for people and players. How this man was re-elected is beyond me.

[ti-amie]

Since everyone is now issuing statements I thought it might be best to move the discussion here.

I think what has pissed Rybakina off is this: If you made the semis in Rome you were given a "bye" in Madrid. That meant that you played almost to the end or to the end of the tournament. In this situation it does seem that the WTA is backhanding Rybakina for not playing Guadalajara and they have a point. You opted not to play so you're rested and you don't need the "bye". I've seen this situation described as both a trial and a part of the rules.

Either way I think both sides have valid arguments.

[ponchi101]

Simplest solution: GET RID OF BYES. The rest of the world does not get BYES in their jobs. I does not matter how highly ranked or lowly ranked you are, if the draw is 5 rounds, EVERYBODY plays five rounds.
But if you make the finals of last week, you get to play the last shift of the first round of the next.
I said it already: it is becoming a bit too prima donna.

[ti-amie]

Juan Ignacio
@juanignacio_ac
By the official rules, the WTA was forced to pay last week $350,000 to the Guadalajara organization because of the number of Top 10 players that skipped the event

The scheduling mess they pulled off having a direct impact on their finances, who would've thought

It actually might be even more, because rules don't even include the case in which only 3 Top 10 players attend a non-mandatory 1000

[meganfernandez]

Simplest solution: GET RID OF BYES. The rest of the world does not get BYES in their jobs. I does not matter how highly ranked or lowly ranked you are, if the draw is 5 rounds, EVERYBODY plays five rounds.
But if you make the finals of last week, you get to play the last shift of the first round of the next.
I said it already: it is becoming a bit too prima donna.

It's tough. Eliminating byes and performance byes will result in withdrawals or top players not entering those tournaments. Have to balance those things.

[Owendonovan]

U.S. Tennis accused of downplaying sexual abuse and trying to silence Pam Shriver

Matthew Futterman
Oct 5, 2023
If you’d like to follow our new tennis coverage, please click here. This article is appearing on feeds of other sports so interested fans know it exists and how to follow it. This will only be the case on rare occasions.

The United States Tennis Association is defending itself against allegations that one of its top lawyers has repeatedly tried to cover up sexual abuse, including warning the 22-time Grand Slam champion and abuse survivor Pam Shriver to show caution when she discussed the issue.

On Monday, Stevie Gould, a former college player, who successfully sued the USTA in 2020 over its failure to protect young players in California from a known sexual predator now serving a 255-year prison sentence, filed a complaint with the U.S. Center for Safesport seeking punishment for Staciellen Mischel, the USTA’s deputy chief legal officer and the top lawyer for the USTA Foundation, for her actions in both his case and another involving a predatory tennis coach.

Safesport is tasked with investigating sexual and physical abuse and harassment claims in sports.

The Safesport complaint mentions an incident in the spring of 2022, when Mischel walked Shriver, a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, to her car following a fundraising dinner and told her to “be careful” about her public statements on sexual abuse in tennis.

Shriver has said she interpreted the message of the conversation to be to not “say too much”.

Gould said in his complaint that Mischel used a similar approach nine years ago, before he was abused by his coach. In a 2014 email to the leader of the Northern California section of the USTA, Mischel stated that information about a police investigation of a prominent coach named Normandie Burgos and his suspension from USTA activities should remain confidential. Burgos started abusing Gould the following year, and was convicted of numerous counts of molestation.

In his complaint to Safesport, Gould said Mischel was “morally unfit to continue to serve in her current capacity for a national governing body.” He wrote that she “poses a grave danger to children as long as she continues in that role. Simply stated, children are not safe in tennis as long as this person is able to make decisions about their welfare.”

Chris Widmaier, the chief spokesman for the USTA, said last month the organization would never stifle anyone from telling their story of abuse, and certainly not Shriver. The organization has declined to make Mischel available for an interview.

In a deposition, Mischel testified that since Shriver had previously done fundraising work on behalf of the USTA, she was acting in her capacity as a lawyer for the organization and privately warning Shriver to keep her distance from Robert Allard, a top lawyer for plaintiffs in cases of sexual abuse in sports, whom Mischel described as not “a nice person.”

In a statement Wednesday, Widmaier said police investigating Burgos in 2014 requested “that this sensitive matter be treated confidentially to protect minors, avoid re-victimization, and to not interfere with an on-going investigation by law enforcement. We properly and promptly reported information to law enforcement and cooperated in the investigation. We are confident Ms. Mischel, in all matters, acted properly and in accordance with the law.”

Shriver has become an ally of sexual abuse survivors in tennis since going public with her own story of abuse last year. In a pre-trial deposition in the case between the USTA and Kylie McKenzie, a once-promising junior, Shriver testified that Mischel approached her following a USTA fundraising dinner in California last year, to speak with her about her participation in the case.

When a lawyer representing the USTA in the McKenzie case asked Shriver whether anyone at the USTA had discouraged her from speaking out about sexual abuse, she responded: “Depends how you interpret the conversation from Staciellen. Part of my interpretation was that I needed to be careful. And in that interpretation, meaning don’t say too much.”

Shriver says she was asked to keep quiet.
That interchange between Mischel and Shriver has set off an awkward conflict between the USTA and one of the most decorated players in American tennis history, a prominent television commentator on ESPN and the Tennis Channel, and a figure who has served as a high-profile volunteer for the organization.

After Shriver testified on McKenzie’s behalf, with only limited time for cross-examination, lawyers for the USTA tried to serve her with a subpoena for further questioning in the days following the U.S. Open. Not wanting to submit to further adversarial questioning, Shriver spent most of her time inside and near her home until the deadline for additional testimony passed.

McKenzie, a 24-year-old from Arizona, sued the USTA last year, and was represented by Allard. She claimed the USTA had failed to protect her from a coach who inappropriately touched her after a practice in 2018, when she was 19 and he was 34. That coach had previously touched a USTA employee years before the interaction with McKenzie, though the employee did not report her experience to anyone until McKenzie’s allegations were under investigation.

Gould, a 23-year-old from California who played tennis for the University of San Francisco, reached a lucrative settlement with the USTA in 2021 over its failure to protect him and other players from Burgos, a prominent coach known for training working-class, immigrant children at half the cost of other top coaches.

Burgos had previously been accused of sexually assaulting young players at Tamalpais High School in Marin County, just north of San Francisco. Jurors could not reach a verdict in the 2010 case against him involving players from the school and a mistrial was declared.

The USTA took no action against Burgos, and he set up a private training base in the East Bay city of Richmond, where he trained young players at his condominium complex. The USTA even provided travel grants that allowed his teams to represent Northern California in national tournaments.

Then in 2014, a player told police that Burgos had demanded sex acts, and when the boy refused, Burgos withheld gear or practice time and threatened to derail his college recruitment. After learning of the police investigation, the USTA suspended Burgos from participating in any USTA tournaments, events or programs.

However, in the same email in which she informed Steve Leube, the leader of the USTA’s Northern California section, of the Burgos suspension, Mischel also requested that Leube remain as quiet as possible about the allegations.

“All information regarding this matter should be handled with care and treated as confidential,” Mischel wrote.

Burgos then abused Gould, who did not become aware of the email Mischel sent until years later, an experience he described as “mind-blowing.”

“If my parents had known about this there is no way they would have let me spend countless hours practicing at this man’s private complex,” said Gould, who has been coaching junior players in Marin County in recent months. He said the decision to delve once more into the issue, two years after he settled his case was not an easy one, but ultimately it was something he couldn’t pass up on.

“There’s this disconnect between how this should have been handled and how it was,” he said.
https://theathletic.com/4928508/2023/10 ... m-shriver/

Is the thinking that you have to protect a sexual abuser to protect your business?

[ti-amie]

U.S. Tennis accused of downplaying sexual abuse and trying to silence Pam Shriver

Matthew Futterman
Oct 5, 2023
If you’d like to follow our new tennis coverage, please click here. This article is appearing on feeds of other sports so interested fans know it exists and how to follow it. This will only be the case on rare occasions.

The United States Tennis Association is defending itself against allegations that one of its top lawyers has repeatedly tried to cover up sexual abuse, including warning the 22-time Grand Slam champion and abuse survivor Pam Shriver to show caution when she discussed the issue.

On Monday, Stevie Gould, a former college player, who successfully sued the USTA in 2020 over its failure to protect young players in California from a known sexual predator now serving a 255-year prison sentence, filed a complaint with the U.S. Center for Safesport seeking punishment for Staciellen Mischel, the USTA’s deputy chief legal officer and the top lawyer for the USTA Foundation, for her actions in both his case and another involving a predatory tennis coach.

Safesport is tasked with investigating sexual and physical abuse and harassment claims in sports.

The Safesport complaint mentions an incident in the spring of 2022, when Mischel walked Shriver, a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, to her car following a fundraising dinner and told her to “be careful” about her public statements on sexual abuse in tennis.

Shriver has said she interpreted the message of the conversation to be to not “say too much”.

Gould said in his complaint that Mischel used a similar approach nine years ago, before he was abused by his coach. In a 2014 email to the leader of the Northern California section of the USTA, Mischel stated that information about a police investigation of a prominent coach named Normandie Burgos and his suspension from USTA activities should remain confidential. Burgos started abusing Gould the following year, and was convicted of numerous counts of molestation.

In his complaint to Safesport, Gould said Mischel was “morally unfit to continue to serve in her current capacity for a national governing body.” He wrote that she “poses a grave danger to children as long as she continues in that role. Simply stated, children are not safe in tennis as long as this person is able to make decisions about their welfare.”

Chris Widmaier, the chief spokesman for the USTA, said last month the organization would never stifle anyone from telling their story of abuse, and certainly not Shriver. The organization has declined to make Mischel available for an interview.

In a deposition, Mischel testified that since Shriver had previously done fundraising work on behalf of the USTA, she was acting in her capacity as a lawyer for the organization and privately warning Shriver to keep her distance from Robert Allard, a top lawyer for plaintiffs in cases of sexual abuse in sports, whom Mischel described as not “a nice person.”

In a statement Wednesday, Widmaier said police investigating Burgos in 2014 requested “that this sensitive matter be treated confidentially to protect minors, avoid re-victimization, and to not interfere with an on-going investigation by law enforcement. We properly and promptly reported information to law enforcement and cooperated in the investigation. We are confident Ms. Mischel, in all matters, acted properly and in accordance with the law.”

Shriver has become an ally of sexual abuse survivors in tennis since going public with her own story of abuse last year. In a pre-trial deposition in the case between the USTA and Kylie McKenzie, a once-promising junior, Shriver testified that Mischel approached her following a USTA fundraising dinner in California last year, to speak with her about her participation in the case.

When a lawyer representing the USTA in the McKenzie case asked Shriver whether anyone at the USTA had discouraged her from speaking out about sexual abuse, she responded: “Depends how you interpret the conversation from Staciellen. Part of my interpretation was that I needed to be careful. And in that interpretation, meaning don’t say too much.”

Shriver says she was asked to keep quiet.
That interchange between Mischel and Shriver has set off an awkward conflict between the USTA and one of the most decorated players in American tennis history, a prominent television commentator on ESPN and the Tennis Channel, and a figure who has served as a high-profile volunteer for the organization.

After Shriver testified on McKenzie’s behalf, with only limited time for cross-examination, lawyers for the USTA tried to serve her with a subpoena for further questioning in the days following the U.S. Open. Not wanting to submit to further adversarial questioning, Shriver spent most of her time inside and near her home until the deadline for additional testimony passed.

McKenzie, a 24-year-old from Arizona, sued the USTA last year, and was represented by Allard. She claimed the USTA had failed to protect her from a coach who inappropriately touched her after a practice in 2018, when she was 19 and he was 34. That coach had previously touched a USTA employee years before the interaction with McKenzie, though the employee did not report her experience to anyone until McKenzie’s allegations were under investigation.

Gould, a 23-year-old from California who played tennis for the University of San Francisco, reached a lucrative settlement with the USTA in 2021 over its failure to protect him and other players from Burgos, a prominent coach known for training working-class, immigrant children at half the cost of other top coaches.

Burgos had previously been accused of sexually assaulting young players at Tamalpais High School in Marin County, just north of San Francisco. Jurors could not reach a verdict in the 2010 case against him involving players from the school and a mistrial was declared.

The USTA took no action against Burgos, and he set up a private training base in the East Bay city of Richmond, where he trained young players at his condominium complex. The USTA even provided travel grants that allowed his teams to represent Northern California in national tournaments.

Then in 2014, a player told police that Burgos had demanded sex acts, and when the boy refused, Burgos withheld gear or practice time and threatened to derail his college recruitment. After learning of the police investigation, the USTA suspended Burgos from participating in any USTA tournaments, events or programs.

However, in the same email in which she informed Steve Leube, the leader of the USTA’s Northern California section, of the Burgos suspension, Mischel also requested that Leube remain as quiet as possible about the allegations.

“All information regarding this matter should be handled with care and treated as confidential,” Mischel wrote.

Burgos then abused Gould, who did not become aware of the email Mischel sent until years later, an experience he described as “mind-blowing.”

“If my parents had known about this there is no way they would have let me spend countless hours practicing at this man’s private complex,” said Gould, who has been coaching junior players in Marin County in recent months. He said the decision to delve once more into the issue, two years after he settled his case was not an easy one, but ultimately it was something he couldn’t pass up on.

“There’s this disconnect between how this should have been handled and how it was,” he said.
https://theathletic.com/4928508/2023/10 ... m-shriver/

Is the thinking that you have to protect a sexual abuser to protect your business?

[mmmm8]

UGH

[ponchi101]

They (and I mean the big THEY) will never learn that trying to silence people does not work.

[ti-amie]

Jon Wertheim

@jon_wertheim
Story to follow: Majority of top 20 (no Americans) send @WTA demand letter …”tour is becoming incredibly demanding on us, creating physical and mental stresses not sustainable in the long run.” list of asks include wage guarantee
Top 100 = $500k
101 to 175 =$200k
176-250 = $100k

[ponchi101]

Just in guaranteed prize money, that would mean the tour would need to dish out $75MM.
But what happens when the top 5 players corner $10MM? Do they relinquish some of their prize money to assist the lower players?
Another point: the tour is too demanding, which is code for playing and traveling too much. But if the top players play less and less, how can the tour generate the necessary revenue?
This is truly a complicated issue.

[ti-amie]

I think these might be negotiating figures since they're higher than what the ATP guarantees its players.

We'll see.

[Fastbackss]

Most of the top 100 would eclipse 500K by playing the four slams and the 1000 series tournaments.
I don't think this would be as much out of pocket