Lindsey Brandon is an legal professional whose previous shoppers have included athletes disputing doping suspensions. In her new put up because the WTA’s first director of safety, Brandon is main an elevated effort to guard athletes from predatory coaches – and others – on the ladies’s skilled tennis tour.
“Protecting is about emotional abuse. Physical abuse too. And it’s not just the coach-athlete,” Brandon stated in a phone interview forward of the BNP Paribas Open, which ended Sunday in Indian Wells, Calif., and is the primary Was the event during which he began his job 3 1/2 months in the past.
“There are other people who are part of the process,” Brandon instructed The Associated Press.
“There can be athlete-to-athlete issues. There can be relationship issues with training staff as opposed to coaches. These are just a few examples.”
Her priorities embody managing the WTA security group’s investigation into complaints – she didn’t say what number of are at the moment lively – and “monitoring any potential concerns”, in addition to bettering training and creating a security code of conduct. Which he hopes shall be revealed in 2024.
The function of the code, which Brandon stated is separate from the overall code of conduct that already exists, is to create a rulebook that outlines requirements of conduct and procedures to observe if a matter arises. installs the This would apply to anybody who’s licensed “in the WTA environment,” Brandon stated, together with gamers, coaches, physiotherapists, different members of the entourage, event employees and tour employees.
“Safety is multi-faceted and stronger when the complete inhabitants is educated, invested and held to the identical requirements. … We have a various physique of gamers, employees and assist groups, so the challenges and areas of concern will differ. As such, our focus is to make sure that gamers really feel they’ll come ahead and share their considerations, which performs an necessary function in resolving any points that could be at hand,” WTA President And CEO Steve Simon stated in an e mail to The Associated Press.
It might be onerous to gauge the success of an initiative like this so quickly, however Simon discovered at the very least one constructive takeaway.
“We’re seeing more athletes coming forward,” he stated, “which is a great initial result.” Adding “the expertise of a dedicated security position,” Simon stated, is the largest public-facing step taken by the Florida-based WTA within the area because the problem of gamers’ security attracted consideration final yr: a French participant as soon as The extremely ranked No. 39 accused his former coach of rape; Another participant sued the US Tennis Association for failing to guard her from a coach she says sexually assaulted her at one in all his coaching facilities when she was 19; 2002 International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee Pam Shriver, who gained 21 Grand Slam titles in girls’s doubles, stated she had an “inappropriate and harmful relationship with a much older coach of mine” that started when she was 17 and she or he He was 50 years previous.
“Maybe we need to talk more to the players and tell them what’s happening with everything, so that they can be careful,” stated Ons Jabour, a two-time Grand Slam finalist from Tunisia.
“Maybe it’s never enough and we should be doing more.” Simon expressed an analogous sentiment throughout an interview on the Tour’s season-ending championship in November.
“We have … background checks on our coaches. We have an Athlete Assistance Program. We have mental health experts who are here to help when there is an emotional issue. We have all kinds of education programs. We have investigators coming,” he stated.
“The one factor we’re educating everybody about is that this: We want to assist ourselves. If you see it, you could report it. We have to work with our gamers in order that they be taught to set acceptable boundaries round themselves and what’s proper and what’s flawed.
Brandon, who stated she performed tennis by means of highschool and to 1 event in faculty, got here to the WTA after almost seven years working for Howard Jacobs, a widely known sports activities legal professional who most not too long ago married tennis professional Varvara Lepchenko. Had helped cut back doping bans to 4. yr to 21 months.
“Lindsay’s knowledge in this area (enforced rules, unfair practices, etc.) is likely to be more in-depth than anyone hired by the WTA,” Jacobs wrote in an e mail to the AP.
Brandon plans to journey to the Miami Open, the place play begins Tuesday, and “as many tournaments as I reasonably can this year,” during which youthful gamers compete.
“The sooner you can provide support and access to these athletes, the better,” Brandon stated.
“I inform folks that I do not need to be only a response useful resource; I additionally need to be a supportive useful resource and a preventive useful resource.”
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
