speedplay wrote:
Short version, the players who participated wanted more money, when they didn't get it, they refused to continue to play. USATT suspended them for ... 1 year? But the suspension have already been lifted.
The USATT Board of Directors and USATT Ethics Committee ruled that...
"...the Respondents' actions in making the demands, and threatening to boycott the men's singles if the demands were not met, basically amounted to an extortion attempt. The panel finds that the Respondents' conduct in so doing was unethical, unsportsmanlike, improper, obviously wrong, and unbecoming of a member of USATT.
"The panel finds that the Respondents' collective actions in failing to continue to play in the Men's Singles sabotaged the event, regardless of any stated reasons for doing so, and that that the Respondents' overall actions in this matter were harmful to USATT." After the one-year suspension, two of the suspended players exercised their right to arbitration.
The arbitrator saw nothing wrong in the players shaking down the USATT for more money, then after the USATT refused to buckle, following through on their threat to destroy the men's finals of the National tournament.
In fact the arbitrator ruled it was the USATT Board of Directors and Ethics Committee in the wrong for disciplining the players on such a flimsy pretense as destroying our national championship!!!
In his half-baked decision the arbitrator couldn't even get the name of the USATT right, referring to them throughout as "USTT."