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Wimbledon ban Justin Gimelstob after no contest plea as Novak Djokovic & co. face decision over ATP future


Gimelstob entered a no contest plea (Picture: Getty Images)

Wimbledon chiefs today confirmed that disgraced Justin Gimelstob will not be invited to the 2019 Championships neither as a guest in the Royal Box nor as a player in the invitational doubles.

Gimelstob, a two-time doubles Grand Slam champion, took a ‘no contest’ plea for battery charges in Los Angeles on Monday and was handed 60 hours of community service as well as a three-year probation sentence.

The 42-year-old assaulted venture capitalist Randall Kaplan on Halloween last year in front of his wife and young child and his wife Madison miscarried just days after the attack – something the couple believe was due to the stress of the incident.

‘Thankfully my husband survived, but our unborn child did not,’ Madison Kaplan said. ‘My doctors said everything had looked perfect with the pregnancy before the attack. The only reason they could see causing the miscarriage was the stress from the attack. Justin might not have gotten his wish in killing Randy, but he did kill a tiny innocent little baby girl.

‘It was the scariest thing I have ever seen… I really think he was trying to kill Randy. We don’t even know the trauma seeing the attack of her daddy has had on [two-year-old son] Carter. What type of person does this in front of children?’

Randy Kaplan added: ‘It was beyond petrifying – I have never been so scared in my entire life. If nobody had stopped him, and if he had continued beating my head like he wanted to, I may not be here today. I could be dead.’

Gimelstob won’t be invited into the Royal Box (Picture: Getty Images)

Following the conclusion of his criminal procedings, the All England Lawn Tennis Club has made public its intention to not invite Gimelstob – who has competed in the invitational doubles every year since 2010 – to this year’s tournament.

‘The AELTC can confirm that Justin Gimelstob has not been and will not be invited to participate in the Invitational events, or to attend the Royal Box at The Championships in 2019,’ a statement read.

While it’s a welcome move from the tournament, it has not yet been specified if he will be able to enter the grounds as, for example, a commentator.

Gimelstob worked for the Tennis Channel prior to the charges being brought against him and a tepid statement from the organisation suggests he may have a future with the organisation.

‘We are sure that Justin is pleased that this matter has been resolved,’ it read. ‘Since he took his leave of absence from Tennis Channel in November 2018, we have been waiting for the legal system to run its course.

‘Now that this is behind him, we will have internal meetings among our executives – and meetings with Justin – to discuss his future with Tennis Channel.’

What is perhaps more concerning is his work with the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) – the governing body of men’s tennis.

Gimelstob is a player representative on the ATP board and played a crucial role in the recent ousting of CEO Chris Kermode.

His three-year term as a board representative is up for renewal at the Rome Masters next month and he could be removed from his role in one of two ways.



ATP statement on Gimelstob

Justin Gimelstob holds an elected position as one of the three Player Representatives on the ATP Board of Directors and under our organisation’s by-laws his position is therefore a matter of review for the ATP Player Council and/or the ATP Board. The decision was taken to let the judicial process run its course before any judgement was made on his future, so with that process complete this is now a subject for review by the Board and/or the Player Council. As a related matter, the election for the role of the next Americas Player Representative on the ATP Board – the position currently held by Gimelstob – will take place as scheduled on Tuesday May 14, in Rome.

The first is if five of the other six ATP board members – made up of three representatives for the tournaments and three for the players – voted him out. It’s thought that this is unlikely given Gimelstob’s close friendship with Tennis Channel executive David Egdes, who is also on the board.

The second would be if the player council voted him out. This, again, may prove problematic given the high regard he is held in by at least half of those on the council.

In the aftermath of entering his no contest plea, one member of the council, Canada’s Vasek Pospisil claimed the ATP Tour would be ‘fortunate’ if they saw his term extended.

‘I would like to stay away from commenting on the matters of Justin’s personal life as I am ill-equipped to answer such questions, or make statements on that matter. I will say, however, that Justin has done an incredible job in his position as a player board representative,’ Pospisil told Tennis.Life.

‘He has conducted himself with the utmost integrity during the nine months I have been on the council and has fought for the players’ rights. If he were to run again for that position, myself and the players of the tour would be fortunate to have him for another term.’

It’s a view unlikely to be shared by many outside of the council but Gimelstob is understood to have support half the members including world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

World No. 1 Djokovic is an ally of Gimelstob (Picture: AFP/Getty)

Pressure will now surely be applied if Djokovic and co. could seriously support the American following his sentencing.

Council president Djokovic and vice-president Kevin Anderson refused to tackle the situation head on at the Australian Open as they awaited the result of his trial but now, with Gimelstob’s case coming to a halt, they will be quizzed once again over his future in the organisation.

Anderson said in Melbourne: ‘It’s been a very difficult issue. We’ve felt that… [it] is worthy of seeing this out and seeing exactly what comes out in the end.

‘If some of the accusations are deemed accurate and true then I don’t think he should be a board member anymore but we believe that it’s a case of we have to let the law have it’s say and we’ll take it from there. He has very adamantly said that these allegations aren’t true and he’s defending himself, if that’s the case then we will definitely support him on the premise he’s true.’

Djokovic added: ‘If he is not proven guilty, he stays innocent, or he’s proven guilty, that’s a completely different situation for us and we have to address it. I will let authorities deal with that, and we’ll see what happens when we hear what’s the end line.’





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