EThere are turmoil in German tennis, which became known at the general meeting of the German Tennis Federation (DTB) on Sunday. Dietloff von Arnim, president of the world’s largest tennis association since 2021, was re-elected in only the third round of voting. “This is a reminder, we will have to deal with this,” the 63-year-old told FAZ on Monday. “We must communicate even more intensively with each individual state association. If we send a message and it doesn’t get through, we have to wonder.”
In the first two rounds of voting, von Arnim did not win a majority. His opponent Robert Hampe, president of the Westphalian Tennis Association, received 40.8 percent of the vote. The meeting was then adjourned. Before the third round of voting, Hampe withdrew his candidacy, and von Arnim received 89.9 percent of the vote.
Hampe was also elected to the DTB executive board as one of five vice presidents for a four-year term. “I am confident that we will work together to find solutions,” von Arnim said. “It has become clear that a different wind must be blowing in DTB,” Hampe told FAZ on Monday.
“Solid finance” as a goal
The dissatisfaction of some delegates apparently concerns different aspects. First of all, the mistakes of the previous leadership of the association in handling the case of the late former DTB vice-president Dirk Hordorff, accused of abuse of power and sexual harassment, were criticized.
The unsatisfactory situation in competitive sports was also discussed, where no German athletes are currently ranked among the top 50 women in the world rankings. Despite the growth in membership over the past three years, the association’s financial situation is also strained.
Von Arnim, having already suffered a crushing defeat in the ITF world body’s presidential election in September, has now set himself the main goal of his second term to “achieve solid finances and continue to promote competitive sport and digitalization.” . To be able to fund the measures, we need to do better in the future, especially “in the area of sales and sponsorship,” he says.
It was also decided to increase membership fees. In the Hordorff case, an independent monitoring commission created in April submitted an interim report the day before the election, expected to be completed in mid-2024. Over the past six months, the competitive sports working group has also been working on proposals to improve support within the association. “But we won’t be able to harvest in the short term,” von Arnim said.
Source: Frantfurter Allgemeine
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