Abuse vortex at the German Tennis Association (DTB).
In an interview with NDR, Sportschau and Süddeutsche Zeitung, former professional Maximilian Abel (41) accused DTB Vice Dirk Hordorff (67).
The accusation: sexual abuse!
The incidents are said to have happened decades ago, when Hordorff was also training the young professional Abel in the meantime. An example: At the ATP tournament in Rothenbaum in Hamburg, Hordorff is said to have hit Abel on the butt 20 times with his belt.
When Abel looked back, his former trainer is said to have had an erection. Abel: “I was shocked, felt like shit.”
Sriram Balaji (33) describes similar incidents. Thanks to a scholarship, the Indian spent three months in 2010 with the Hessian state association, of which Hordorff was president at the time.
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According to Balaji, Hordorff came to his room at least once a week and ordered the professional to undress.
Balaji: “He touched me all over my body, just not my genitals.”
Hordorff humiliated him on the tennis court, for example by pulling his ears. Balaji: “I felt like he wanted to treat me like his slave.”
On Thursday, the DTB announced that an external law firm had investigated an unnamed member of the executive committee.
However, the association announced that the accusation “could not be proven with certainty”.
Nevertheless, the member will no longer exercise his office until further notice.
