Amid U.S. Open Fanfare, U.S.T.A. Fights Questions of Its Handling of Sexual Abuse

For a number of months, the United States Tennis Association has positioned this yr’s U.S. Open as a key second to have a good time its 50-year file of management on ladies’s fairness and empowerment, tied to its fee of equal prize cash to its high gamers.

At the identical time, it has been litigating its dealing with of accusations of sexual assault made by a feminine participant who labored with a male coach at the usT.A.’s marquee coaching heart in Florida, with depositions which have included detailed questioning concerning the lady’s sexual historical past.

Kylie McKenzie, a 24-year-old from Arizona who was as soon as one of the vital promising junior gamers within the nation, sued the usT.A. final yr, claiming the group had failed to guard her from a coach who inappropriately touched her after a follow in 2018, when she was 19 and he was 34.

Attempts to mediate a settlement haven’t been profitable, prompting legal professionals to start to depose witnesses as they put together for a attainable trial.

During these depositions, a lawyer for the usT.A. requested McKenzie about what number of sexual companions she had had earlier than the incident, about drugs she had taken to deal with nervousness and despair, and concerning the nature of her discussions together with her therapist.

The lawyer requested the participant’s mom, Kathleen McKenzie, whether or not she knew that her daughter had taken contraception tablets and a morning-after tablet.

The varieties of questions, although frequent in lawsuits centered on sexual abuse, have been broadly criticized by advocates for victims, who say they discourage ladies from coming ahead when they’re abused.

“This is what always happens,” mentioned Pam Shriver, a former participant and tv commentator who was deposed within the case as a witness for McKenzie and who has labored with the usT.A. on and off for years.

In an announcement, Chris Widmaier, chief spokesman for the usT.A., mentioned the group had “no intention of revictimizing or shaming” McKenzie in any means. “We were given inconsistent testimony and were simply seeking to determine which version was true,” he mentioned.

Shriver testified that U.S.T.A.’s high lawyer, Staciellen Mischel, final yr warned her to “be careful” about her public statements on sexual abuse in tennis. Shriver has develop into an ally of McKenzie’s since going public together with her personal story of abuse final yr in an interview with The New York Times.

When a lawyer representing the usT.A. within the McKenzie case requested Shriver whether or not anybody at the usT.A. had discouraged her from talking out about sexual abuse, she responded: “Depends how you interpret the conversation from Staciellen. Part of my interpretation was that I needed to be careful. And in that interpretation, meaning don’t say too much.”

When requested about Mischel’s dialog with Shriver, Widmaier mentioned the group had deep sympathy for Shriver. “We would never stifle anyone from telling her story,” he mentioned.

McKenzie’s case stems from her work with a coach, Anibal Aranda, who labored at the usT.A.’s heart. The group had supported her growth since she was 12, and she or he had frolicked coaching at its facilities in California and Florida. McKenzie described an escalation of bodily contact and isolation that made her uncomfortable. She initially thought that Aranda had completely different norms for bodily contact as a result of he had grown up in Paraguay earlier than transferring to the United States. Then, on Nov. 9, 2018, Aranda sat near her on a bench after follow in order that their legs had been touching after which put his hand between her thighs, she mentioned.

McKenzie shortly reported the incident to mates, family, U.S.T.A. officers and legislation enforcement. The U.S.T.A. promptly suspended after which fired Aranda, who denied touching McKenzie inappropriately. A prolonged investigation by the U.S. Center for SafeSport, the group tasked with investigating sexual and bodily abuse claims in sports activities, discovered it “more likely than not” that Aranda had assaulted McKenzie. The police took an announcement from McKenzie, acknowledged there was possible trigger for a cost of battery after which turned the proof over to native prosecutors, who opted to not pursue a prison case.

Aranda didn’t return repeated messages searching for remark.

McKenzie mentioned she quickly started to expertise panic assaults and despair, which have hampered her makes an attempt to progress in her sport.

During the SafeSport investigation, a U.S.T.A. worker mentioned that Aranda had groped her and touched her vagina over her garments at a New York dance membership round 2015. She didn’t disclose the incident to anybody on the time. The worker informed SafeSport that after she discovered about McKenzie’s accusations, she regretted not reporting her interplay with Aranda.

Widmaier has mentioned beforehand that the usT.A. solely discovered concerning the accusations made by certainly one of its staff towards Aranda after McKenzie reported her criticism to the authorities, and that it moved to fireside Aranda instantly.

McKenzie has spent the yr enjoying in lower-tier tournaments whereas battling nervousness and despair. As of late final month, she was ranked 820th on the earth.

In April, weeks after she made the ultimate of a match in Tunisia, she testified for seven hours in her pretrial deposition. Kevin Shaughnessy, a lawyer at BakerHostetler representing the usT.A., requested her concerning the weeks main as much as the 2018 incident, and questioned why McKenzie didn’t report earlier cases of inappropriate touching by Aranda throughout exercises as he coached her on how one can serve.

McKenzie mentioned that she didn’t anticipate Aranda’s conduct to escalate and that she didn’t anticipate to be pursued sexually. “I was naïve,” she mentioned.

Shaughnessy then requested her whether or not she had had a boyfriend beforehand, or if she had ever had a man “come on” to her earlier than. When McKenzie mentioned she was not likely concerned with boys on the time, he requested concerning the variety of sexual companions she had had and whether or not she had been intimate with a selected participant on the coaching heart.

In July, Shaughnessy deposed McKenzie’s mom and requested whether or not she had been informed by one other U.S.T.A. coach when McKenzie was 14 that her social life was getting in the way in which of her tennis, and that she ought to have her cellphone taken away as a result of she had kissed a boy. Kathleen McKenzie was additionally requested if her daughter had ever believed she was pregnant.

Robert Allard, McKenzie’s lawyer and a specialist in representing victims of sexual assault in sports activities, mentioned the usT.A.’s questioning confirmed a technique of “belittling, embarrassing and intimidating survivors.”

Shriver, who has labored to help the usT.A.’s efforts to extend participation and helped elevate cash for the group and its basis, mentioned she was initially torn when Allard requested her to testify. However, she has made supporting tennis gamers who’re assault victims a precedence.

“In the end, I feel a real pull to support and give some perspective to what it’s like to be a player and have a coaching situation not be professional,” Shriver mentioned on Friday on the U.S. Open, the place she was commentating for ESPN. “I feel like supporting young women who have been traumatized.”