The final report of the “Tennis Review Commission” should be available these days. Six months ago, the German Tennis Federation (DTB) commissioned an independent committee to “process and prevent interpersonal violence”. The reason was allegations of abuse of power against the now deceased DTB Vice President Dirk Hordorff.
“You can’t necessarily assume that the German Tennis Association has a serious interest in clarifying things.” This is the opinion of a person who proactively approached the review commission set up by the DTB several times to share his knowledge.
In mid-May, the association commissioned a three-member committee with the Frankfurt lawyer Felix Rettenmaier, the law professor Ute Sacksofsky and the former tennis professional Erik Jelen to “process and prevent interpersonal violence”. Those affected are not involved.
It is unclear whether and how the commission has worked or is working since then. The person mentioned above also makes this clear to the sports show. In each case, she says, she was contacted and asked to suggest a date for a hearing. She complied with the request three times and the commission stopped contacting her three times. Your conclusion: “I’m speechless and stunned.”
She made her knowledge available to the commission out of interest in clarifying the case of Maximilian Abel. The former professional had accused tennis official Dirk Hordorff, among other things, of emotional and physical violence and commented in detail on this to the research team from Sportschau, NDR and “Süddeutscher Zeitung”. Dirk Hordorff denied the allegations, but subsequently resigned from his position as DTB Vice President for health reasons. Hordorff died at the end of July.
“We have not been contacted”
In addition to Abel, other people – some anonymously – described their experiences with Dirk Hordorff or gave information in an ARD television documentary. According to Sportschau information, Maximilian Abel, sentenced to a long prison sentence for fraud offenses, has been contacted by the processing commission. However, the Commission has not yet held a hearing.
The Indian tennis professional Sriram Balaji, who also made allegations of abuse of power against Hordorff in the research team’s reporting, said he was never contacted by the investigation team. “Heard nothing”, also confirm the other people who speak with their real names in the ARD documentation and could provide information on how to process it. Nobody from the commission got in touch.
This also applies to Maximilian Klein from the Athletes Germany advocacy group. “We have not yet been contacted or questioned”said Klein, who was involved in the case from the beginning as an athlete representative through Maximilian Abel. Athletes Germany had already expressed doubts about an initial investigation into the Hordorff case by a law firm. The DTB executive committee commissioned it and is said to have paid a six-figure sum for it.
Although the result was made available to the accused, Maximilian Abel only received extracts with a delay. At that time, athletes in Germany had already requested that the case be processed in accordance with existing standards, for example by the federal processing commission or the German sports youth.
“Incredibly disappointing”
Six months ago, the DTB set up a review commission. It initially remained unknown what expertise the three commission members had in processing the data in accordance with the specified standards. At the time, it was said that the final report would be available after six months. They are over now.
It is currently completely unclear whether and how the commission has worked so far. Attorney Felix Rettenmaier did not answer relevant questions from the sports show. No information about a process that had aroused hope among those affected. “This is a slap in the face”says Boris Kaminski in an interview with Sportschau. As a child, he experienced severe sexual violence from his supervisor while playing tennis, which he denies.
It is important to Kaminski to raise awareness of the issue and to pass on his experiences as a person affected by tennis and thus bring about change. He communicated this in a personal conversation with DTB President Dietloff von Arnim. Kaminski had assumed that the review committee would contact him. That didn’t happen.
“As a person affected, you naturally hope that you have hit a stone. And now a wall is being built again and then veiled and covered up again. I find this incredibly disappointing and it makes me totally angry.”says Kaminski.
Report in the first half of 2024
Many conversations give the impression that the German Tennis Association was never serious about dealing with the Hordorff case. The word is often used “lip service”. After the death of the former DTB vice-president, the topic of coming to terms with it was not pursued any further, partly in the hope that it would be forgotten, some suspect.
This is contradicted by DTB President Dietloff von Arnim, who is standing for re-election on Sunday (November 19, 2023) at the association’s members’ meeting in Cologne. The commission works independently of Dirk Hordorff’s death, writes the tennis official in response to Sportschau’s request.
A final report is not available, von Arnim confirms, but does not give a reason for the delay and writes: “We hope to have the final report in the first half of 2024, but that is in the hands of the independent commission.” If there are any further questions, such as why none of the publicly known whistleblowers have been heard from by the Commission, he refers them to the Commission. This does not answer any questions in this regard.
Coming to terms with physical, psychological and sexual violence in sport is new territory. Three such commissions are currently at work, in swimming, handball and gymnastics in Weimar. All commissions follow the standards of the Federal Government’s Processing Commission or the German Sports Youth. They are interdisciplinary and involve those affected. Everyone speaks of a very big challenge, progress is slower than actually expected and has problems to overcome. But that was communicated.
In tennis, however, there is no information whatsoever. The indication that a possible final report will be delayed by several months is not made actively but only upon request. What athlete representative Maximilian Klein describes as the risk of an announced reappraisal seems to be confirmed here: “If those affected observe, perhaps from a distance, how the association acts, how it communicates, how it reacts, how it apparently does not keep promises, that sends a devastating signal to those affected. Where should they turn?”
The work of the review committee is not on the agenda for the general meeting of the German Tennis Federation on Sunday.