The German Tennis Association (DTB) has responded to reports from Sportschau, NDR and SZ. He is calling on his Vice President Dirk Hordorff to resign from office by next Wednesday (March 29, 2023).
As the association announced in a statement, this was decided on Sunday. The DTB Vice President has not yet responded to a request to resign, according to the DTB in its statement.
This was preceded by allegations of abuse of power by Dirk Hordorff. A former and an active tennis player had accused Hordorff to Sportschau, NDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung of sexualizing and physical violence against them. Hordorff himself denies the allegations that they are “simply not applicable”.
DTB wants full refurbishment
In its statement, the DTB emphasizes that the allegations are directed against Hordorff’s activities as a private trainer. There is no connection with his function in the German Tennis Association. Nevertheless, the association promised to work through the case as quickly and fully as possible in order to be able to deal with it in the future “even better” to be prepared. To this end, he will work with external specialists and provide scientific support for the workup.
The association states that in cases of abuse of power or borderline behavior, the DTB generally has a culture of looking. “All victims of such acts have our sympathy and our support”the statement said.
According to the DTB, the report from a law firm has been available for a few days. The association had commissioned them to investigate the Hordorff case.
Frankfurt public prosecutor has been investigating since December
The association summarized the result in its first statement on Thursday as follows: “The accusation of misconduct cannot be made with certainty.”
In the ARD sports show and to NDR and SZ, Maximilian Klein from the German athletes’ interest group raised the question of the independence of this investigation and to what extent Dirk Hordorff, as a member of the executive committee, was informed about it.
The public prosecutor’s office in Frankfurt has been investigating Hordorff on suspicion of sexual abuse since December. This was confirmed by the public prosecutor’s office at the request of NDR, Sportschau and Süddeutsche Zeitung.
