By Chris Oddo | Monday May 6, 2019
Roger Federer hopes that Justin Gimelstob’s decision to step down from the ATP’s Board of Directors marks the beginning of a period of growth for the organization.
“I think it's definitely the right move by Justin,” Federer told reporters in Madrid. “He needs to go back and figure things out. There is no doubt about that. And the Tour needs to keep moving forward in these challenging times and important times right now.”
Federer told reporters that he wasn’t interested in commenting on social media about the controversy surrounding Gimelstob and the ATP while he was away from the tour last month, because he respects what he referred to as “the process.”
“I'm not going to come out on social media and all of a sudden comment on stuff,” he said. “And I was not in the press. If I would have been at an event, you could have ask asked me. But I was home. Nobody knocked on my door. Then I would have given my comment. But I'm not going to come out on social media and start commenting about it. Sometimes there is also a process. Sometimes also—when I usually do it is behind closed doors, not through the media."
Federer admits that things could have been done differently from the moment that Gimelstob was charged with a felony for an unprovoked attack on an acquantiance last October, but he is more adamant about his hopes that the ATP can use the incident and its aftermath as an opportunity for reflection and an opportunity to grow.
“That's what I mention also we need to learn from what had happened, you know, and really move on in the good direction because it's an opportunity for sure,” he said.
As far as outgoing ATP President Chris Kermode, Federer thinks that it would make sense for the ATP Board to take another look at his ouster.
“I don't know exactly the process, when the votes are happening, when the new CEO, all this stuff gets decided," Federer said. "But he'll probably—anyway it may be should be put back into the thing, you know—I don't know what you call that—in the mix."