The former Vice President of the German Tennis Association, Dirk Hordorff, has died. The death of the 67-year-old was confirmed by his close confidante Rainer Schüttler and head of the association Dietloff von Arnim on Tuesday of the German Press Agency. Schüttler, who is currently also the women’s team boss, wrote on dpa request: “Unfortunately, the very sad news is true. He passed away peacefully after a long heart illness. He was my advisor, mentor, coach and friend. I am very grateful to him for everything. ”Several media had previously reported on the death.
Hordorff was long considered an important man in the background in the association. He was well connected on the tennis tour and headed the top-class sport department at the DTB. As a trainer, he had discovered shakers, looked after them for around two decades and led him to fifth place in the world rankings.
The Hessian only resigned as DTB Vice in March. The association had repeatedly asked him to resign from office after allegations of abuse. The longtime official Hordorff had rejected the allegations of sexualized violence and abuse of power as “simply untrue”. Hordorff initially let his office rest after the allegations became known. NDR, “Sportschau” and “Süddeutsche Zeitung” had reported allegations by former tennis pro Maximilian Abel, among others, that there had been sexualized assaults for years.
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Hordorff had denied the allegations and had his lawyer explain that there was no connection with the allegations that he was leaving his office. “Due to an operation on an aneurysm that took place at the beginning of March and an upcoming operation on an aneurysm, Mr. Hordorff is currently not in a position to hold office,” the lawyer said. The DTB quickly announced that it wanted to clarify the allegations and appointed an independent commission to investigate the matter and established an external whistleblowing office.
