The ATP, which has come underneath scrutiny for not having a transparent coverage to handle home violence allegations in opposition to members of the boys’s professional tennis tour, stated Monday it has obtained an impartial report with suggestions that will likely be used to kind a “longer-term safeguarding technique referring to all issues of abuse, together with home violence.”
The ATP’s passive strategy to misconduct allegations has been within the highlight over the previous 12 months after the ex-girlfriend of world No. 4 Alexander Zverev alleged that he assaulted her on a number of events, together with on the Laver Cup event resort in Geneva in 2019 and later that fall in the course of the Shanghai Masters occasion.
The allegations got here to gentle in interviews that appeared in Racquet journal in November 2020 and in Slate this previous August shortly earlier than the U.S. Open. The ex-girlfriend, Olga Sharypova, stated in each media accounts she didn’t intend to pursue any felony or civil proceedings in opposition to Zverev however wished to inform her story publicly to assist others. Zverev has repeatedly denied the accusations.
DEEPER LOOK:Alexander Zverev’s misleading statements about alleged abuse will only increase scrutiny
When the preliminary allegations surfaced final 12 months, the ATP’s public stance was that it might not remark till any authorized continuing had run its course. Since there was no authorized continuing to attract on, the problem has been hovering awkwardly within the background whereas Zverev has received important occasions this summer time on the Tokyo Olympics and the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
With Monday’s announcement, the ATP additionally acknowledged that it had launched an investigation into the allegations made within the Slate story about Zverev’s conduct on the Shanghai event. Zverev has stated repeatedly that he would welcome an investigation.
“I’ve at all times been in full assist of the studying of an ATP home violence coverage,” Zverev stated in a press release supplied to USA TODAY Sports activities. “Furthermore, I welcome the ATP investigation within the matter and have been asking the ATP to provoke an impartial investigation for months. As acknowledged earlier than, I categorically and unequivocally deny any of those allegations.”
Zverev has been pursuing authorized motion within the German court docket system in opposition to the writer and the creator of the articles and was granted a preliminary injunction to get the tales faraway from the Web in Germany.
Although the allegations in opposition to Zverev have obtained probably the most consideration, two different present gamers are presently in the midst of home violence circumstances. Nikoloz Basilashvili, who has received two titles this 12 months and is ranked No. 36 on the planet, was accused of home abuse by his ex-wife in 2020 and charged in his dwelling nation of Georgia. Thiago Seyboth Wild, ranked No. 129, is underneath investigation in Brazil after a lawsuit introduced by his ex-girlfriend alleging bodily and psychological abuse. He has denied the accusations.
“As a corporation, we acknowledge the have to be doing extra to make sure everybody concerned in skilled tennis feels secure and guarded,” Massimo Calvelli, the ATP’s chief government officer, stated in a press release. “The suggestions of the Safeguarding Report will assist us strategy this in a strong method. We’re dedicated to creating significant steps ahead and know this received’t be an in a single day course of.”
