A jury in Florida has awarded American tennis player Kylie McKenzie $9 million in damages after she sued the United States Tennis Association (USTA), claiming the organization failed to protect her from a coach she said sexually assaulted her, Associated Press, CNN and Guard reported.
“I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. I feel vindicated,” McKenzie, 25, said in a statement obtained by the media after the verdict. “It was very difficult, but now I feel that everything was worth it. I hope I can be an example to other girls to speak up even when it’s hard.”
According to CNN and Guardthe tennis player filed a lawsuit in March 2022 claiming that the USTA committed “gross negligence” in hiring her coach Anibal Aranda and “failed[ed] to properly supervise him” despite prior knowledge of his “sexual predation” toward another USTA employee.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(999x0:1001x2)/kylie-mckenzie-050924-2-36881700d6da493f82c945a63097ef8d.jpg)
Kylie Mckenzie 2024.
Buda Mendes/Getty
LSU coach Kim Mulkey lashed out at her upcoming ‘hit’ and threatens to sue
In the lawsuit, McKenzie alleged that Aranda, who was employed by the USTA for about seven years before being fired, used his position as a coach to gain access to female athletes and sexually assault them, the AP reported.
McKenzie’s attorneys and the USTA did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on the court case.
In a statement to the AP, USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier said they plan to appeal the case. He added: “We sympathize with the plaintiff and what she went through. We did not – and never have – contested her accusations against the coach.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
He also pointed out that USTA is “deeply disturbed” by the verdict. “The court ruled that the USTA was liable because one of its employees — a non-athlete — had an obligation to report his experience with the coach to the USTA, an incident that was unknown until the USTA removed the coach. This sets a new and unreasonable expectation for the victims, the one that will deter them from coming forward in the future,” he said.
Reggie Bush files defamation lawsuit against NCAA for ‘malicious attack’ on his character
McKenzie claimed Aranda sexually assaulted her in 2018, when she was 19 and he was 34, The Athletic reported. The outlet added that the coach “denied touching McKenzie inappropriately.”
The tennis player, who reached a career-high ranking of No. 33 in 2016, previously said during a 2022 press conference that her experiences with Aranda had affected her mental health on the court and that she dealt with anxiety, panic attacks and depression.
“My confidence and self-esteem disappeared, both on and off the field.” she told CNN at the time.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education