Article

  • ATP embarrassment Gimelstob forced to apolgise for Kournikova attack

    6/28/08 2:06 PM | Johan Lindahl
    - Shamed former player Justin Gimelstob, elected a week ago to the ATP board, has been forced into an embarrassing climbdown after threatening to leave ex-star Anna Kournikova in tears during a Team Tennis match next month.

    “If she's not crying by the time she comes off court then I did not do my job,” said the American, a minor but controversial television commentator.

    The ATP had to apologize for the behavior of their newest corporate embarrassment, which comes amid a lawsuit by the Hamburg tournament against the sanctioning body as well as calls for the ouster of ATP supremo Etienne de Villiers.

    “The ATP cannot condone any form of intolerance and Justin Gimelstob's comments last week were unacceptable,” read a statement.

    Gimelstob, a journeyman who never rose into the Top 50, was to have made a donation to a women's sports charity and was censured by his current part-time television employer.

    The New Jersey player was particularly cruel to Kournikova, who cut the mold a decade ago for the current crop of talented Russian and Eastern European players on the WTA.

    His remarks also included judgments of French players Tatiana Golovin and Alize Cornet as “sexpots” and a characterization of Czech Nicole Vaidisova as a “well-developed young lady”.

    Vaidisova, who has apparently heard it all before from boors, shrugged off the unwanted attention. “I know his sense of humor a little bit. I know he kind of talks like that a little bit, so I can cut him some slack.

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Comments

how is Gimelstob a "shamed" former player?

Dynasty , 6/28/08 4:39 PM


Dynasty, did you read about all the stuff Gimelstob said about Kournikova in the radio interview?

EinarBerg , 6/29/08 2:08 PM


If not, have a look
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23938521-662,00.h tml

EinarBerg , 6/29/08 2:10 PM


I think we need some form of decency back in this world. It's one thing to be (understandably) put off by PC gone out of control, but it's another to publicly try and humiliate someone in a manner unacceptable even by human standards of today. If you're passionate about something, there's a way to say it and to get your point across. The moment you get out of control, it's going to back fire and put a number of people off. Than the subject matter changes from its original topic and turns to one of personal attacks on various people, and becomes utterly distasteful and no longer about good, decent, competitive sports. It reveals far more about the attacker than the one being attacked!

tenstar , 6/29/08 2:42 PM


EinarBerg
I checked the link you referenced but no luck - found Justins comments on the Huffington Reports website - a super sensational media outpost. In the last few yrs of his career, Justin got a little bit of airtime during US events and seemed to make the most of it but came off as a goomba most of the time - an emptyheaded jock with some soundbite remarks. When he landed the TV commentary spot for the West Coast 2007 summer events, he did an OK job and seemed genuinely grateful for his good fortune (after all never within the top 50 in mens singles). I thought "good for him - this is a great break for him". But these comments expose an extremely angry and negative person, as well as one who, finding an outlet, couldn't wait to voice them. Other sportcasters have been ousted for similar and yet less contentious outbursts (CBS-Jimmy the Greek) and Gimelstob should be no exception. What he spouted was reprehensible and if I were an ATP member, I would want him immediately distanced from the governing body.

tenisbebe , 7/2/08 4:47 AM



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