The News
Thursday 18 of April 2024

Stan Wawrinka points out 'political chaos' enveloping tennis


AP Photo, Justin Gimelstob,FILE - In this July 23, 2008, file photo, Justin Gimelstob, then a member of Kastles' World Team Tennis, smiles during a match in Washington. Now a tennis broadcaster and coach, Gimelstob pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault for attacking a former friend in Los Angeles on Halloween 2017. The district attorney's office says the 42-year-old former pro player was sentenced Monday, April 22, 2019, to three years of probation, 60 days of community service and a year's worth of anger management classes. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson, File)
AP Photo, Justin Gimelstob,FILE - In this July 23, 2008, file photo, Justin Gimelstob, then a member of Kastles' World Team Tennis, smiles during a match in Washington. Now a tennis broadcaster and coach, Gimelstob pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault for attacking a former friend in Los Angeles on Halloween 2017. The district attorney's office says the 42-year-old former pro player was sentenced Monday, April 22, 2019, to three years of probation, 60 days of community service and a year's worth of anger management classes. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson, File)

Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka says there has been a “worrying decline in moral standards” in tennis as “politics have overshadowed the action on the courts.”

In a letter published Friday in The Times of London, Wawrinka discusses the case of Justin Gimelstob, the ex-player, coach and TV commentator who resigned this week from the ATP board of directors after pleading no contest to misdemeanor assault for attacking a former friend.

Wawrinka also refers to what he calls a “concerted plot” to oust Chris Kermode as ATP president.

Wawrinka’s complaint about the sport’s “political chaos” and “numerous conflicts of interest” is the latest piece of an ongoing saga enveloping tennis as the year’s second Grand Slam tournament approaches. The French Open begins May 26.

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