ATP President Kermode Ousted, Will Leave At The End Of 2019
ATP President Chris Kermode did not receive the majority support of the three players’ representatives on the board and will leave at the end of the year. Kermode, an Englishman served two three-year terms as President.
Justin Gimelstob, who is facing charges of battery resulting from an altercation in Los Angeles on Halloween night, is one of the three player representatives on the board along with David Egdes and Alex Inglot.
Novak Djokovic leads the player’s council has opposed Kermode in the past, though he would not comment on the matter today citing confidentiality of the vote. Djokovic has expressed his interest for a player’s union to address some of the issues facing the ATP.
Gimelstob has also opposed Kermode, and could be in the running for the ATP President’s job despite his off-court issues.
During the presser, Djokovic said, “The structure is such that it’s I personally feel a bit flawed,” he said. “You kind have to put always the role of the president as a tiebreaker in many voting circumstances. You have three votes of the player board representatives, three votes of the tournaments and most of the cases, there’s a conflict of interest. It’s a difficult position to be in as a president because you have to kind of at times choose between the two. So I feel that’s something we as a group have to address.”
“I feel like it’s time for us to make some changes to protect the president, release him from pressure and also have some independent input on things. I feel like it’s important for a very traditional sport that we are, that has a lot of potential in the world for sport, and business and marketing, and we can learn a lot from other sports.”