Former doubles star and ATP board member Justin Gimelstob has said he will contest the allegations of violence against him.
In a letter to the ATP’s player council, the Tennis Channel’s Gimelstob promised he wouldn’t take these allegations lying down according to a report in The Telegraph.
The ATP player council is led by Serbia’s top-ranked player Novak Djokovic and consists of 10 members. If six of those 10 vote to oust Gimelstob, it could happen with another player representative Roger Rasheed having already met a similar fate earlier this year. He was replaced by David Egdes as an interim option.
However, Gimelstob has taken a leave of absence from Tennis Channel where he is one of the top personalities.
In a media statement that Metro.co.uk published, his lawyer said Shawn Holley said:
“Mr. Gimelstob did not intend to respond to the recent media coverage about him and instead focus on his family and career.”
“However, he now feels compelled to do so based on the nature of numerous blatantly false allegations. Mr. Gimelstob unequivocally and absolutely denies ever engaging in domestic violence or homophobic behaviour of any kind. Any suggestions to the contrary are false.”
“While Mr. Gimelstob cannot respond to every allegation here due to ongoing legal matters, many are baseless, contradicted by neutral third parties and court rulings, and driven by unfortunate personal vendettas.”
According to reports, Gimelstob was arrested for alleged violence on a venture capitalist by Randall Kaplan in October. A temporary restraining order was filed which said Kaplan was thrown to the ground and Gimelstob allegedly hit him 50 times.
After surrendering to police following that incident on October 31, he was charged with felony battery before being released on a bail worth $50,000.
This case will be brought to court on December 12.
The 41-year-old Gimelstob is former Australian and French Open winner, having partnered Venus Williams in those mixed doubles titles. He also made it to the quarter-finals in the Wimbledon men’s doubles.
His highest singles ranking was number 63 in the world while climbing up to number 18 in the doubles rankings along with clinching 13 career titles.
After retiring from tennis in 2007, he has been a coach and also worked as a TV analyst for Tennis Channel apart from being an ATP Board member as a player representative.
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