John Wayne Would Give Justin Gimelstob A Second Chance

Obvious, he has to be under someone’s fold, like a Bolletieri who would give him a chance with about a thousand conditions. There’d have to be a Gimelstob pre incidents and post incident, and someone there. Gil Reyes has been known to work miracles. Agassi had some spiritual support. There’s a way back to something, and it’s the kind of hard work a former player like Gimel could do, but definitely not on his own. I think all have seen the worst of Gimelstob for many years. I thought he was clinically wrong when I saw him – the first time he was a young kid – uber talented and on the rise. The next time, a young veteran that hadn’t made much of himself and had the worst behavior of any player I’d ever seen on a practice court. Then as a young veteran playing some spellbinding tennis in a match about pride against the then next generation a while back. His uninspiring stint at the microphone where he seemed to take for granted that the tennis channels were giving him the opportunity to work a dream job. Then through the Kournikova stupidity where he publicly humiliated her on a radio show, then…the list goes on and on.

So why not another chance fine. Just not another chance to make a fool of himself. He’s too good at that. He shouldn’t have that kind of opportunity. He should swallow his pride and do some community service in the tennis world. And get a mentor that cares about him so he doesn’t go down the rabbit hole again.

No. Thanks. Mr. Gimelstob is a piece of work, and obviously learned not a lesson whatsoever. His flaws will continue to eat him alive, and it’s because he learns nothing.

“Career singles record of 107-172”. I guess former No. 1 US juniors have done worse – DY is 124 Wins to 189 losses. A sense of how much Spadea is better than other former top US juniors: 311 wins to 359 losses. Not 0.500 but more than double Gimel.

People definitely deserve second chances..your change of heart is shocking. Seemed you had a personal vendetta when you were railing against Gimel when the event happened.

Tyson was a thug from childhood, fell to the lowest depths, then was rehabilitated professionally and personally..good for him..I’m still thankful I didn’t start laughing when I spoke to him, would’ve kicked my ass

Scoop still holds the record for most racquet tosses, and the distance toss records at Columbia Tennis Courts

I’m with Andrew. Get Gimel out of here. What he did has no business in the tennis world. I suggest working kids clinics and helping grow the sport that way.

Does he actually read this site? I can’t believe that. If so, I do hope he gets serious treatment so he can act better in the future.

Always interesting to read commentary from those who do not know Justin personally, and most certainly are unaware of his personal life, beyond what they read in the press.

The judge ordered Gimelstob to perform community service and undergo anger management therapy – some of the things Andrew recommends. Presumably, those activities are ongoing. Are they effective? Who knows? But if Gimelstob gets into trouble again, we’ll know about it soon enough (the Daily Telegraph will keep us informed).

I don’t especially miss Gimelstob as a broadcaster (initially I disliked him, but I got used to him and he probably improved over time; some of his replacements at Tennis Channel are better, some worse). As a coach, he may have helped Isner. And his ideas for a greater share of profits to players seemed to me spot-on.

In an earlier thread, I was bemused by the strong criticism of the LTA by people who earlier seemed to believe that the share of Wimbledon revenue currently going to the players (possibly 14%, but kept mysterious) was quite adequate and the lion’s share belonged primarily to the LTA. Players are replaceable, it was said (but apparently not administrators). Personally, I believe in playing the talent, beyond those at the very top.

No one paid much attention to the claims of the Comptroller of New York that the U.S. Open was hiding revenue to avoid paying the City of New York its contractual share. I don’t know what’s happened with this, but it did strike me that if the Comptroller of New York can be deceived, the players are fully justified in demanding transparency.

Incidentally, maybe Posposil’s political activity has somehow empowered his tennis game – based on recent results, anyway. I hope the trend continues.

Always interesting to see people defend an action described as a “violent, unprovoked attack.” Especially unnamed people who claim to know the person who did the attack.

Having said that, from what I understand, Gimelstob is too powerful in the tennis world to not return and everybody thinks it will happen like Scoop. I would guess too that he has nothing else going on in his life other than tennis – i.e. does he have other interests like art or cooking or whatnot. The guy has spent his entire life hitting a little yellow ball so he has no other purpose in this society, really. From that standpoint, he should be back in tennis.

Gimelstob: Felony Battery Charge to which Gimelstob plead NO CONTEST AKA YOU GOT ME. Can’t paint that to be bright and rosy.

Only struck the victim fifty times. Just 50 times. I mean, at least it’s not just once. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

You do the math on what it takes to come back into anyone’s graces. His colleagues will see him and be glad to see him, and certainly still enjoy speaking with him. And at some point in the future, maybe there are some viable ways back into the sport at different levels. His comeback may have begun, but those doors back to his old job and prominence are locked.

Right, Andrew. I remember reading the Corina Morariu book and how he became obsessed with her and started stalking her after they broke up. He also broke up her marriage and messed up her family life from what I remember. That was a red flag. So the fact he would hit someone 50 times isn’t surprising. Like you say passions, whether it’s beating someone up or stalking a woman. It’s just too much.

I really believe characters like him need to be humbled by doing good for others, maybe working in an old folks home and wheeling people around or playing bingo. When you grow up rich and want everything your way, it isn’t healthy especially if you have anger issues which he clearly does.

Yes, Jeff, I agree with what you’re saying. Gosh I didn’t know the Morariu story. Wow this will be a long road back, it looks like a life-time journey. This guy is so deep in the “stuff I have done absolutely and horrendously wrong” column that it’s really, really going to be hard. Having a pedestal and platform have been the worst things for this guy. If he really and truly wants to do good things, he should do them and forget about the rest of it. And people should help him by not indulging him. Your suggestion of volunteering at a retirement community, maybe play bingo and checkers and learn to be a decent human again.

He’d probably be a very competitive bingo player. So many no bingo and no checkers. Maybe just helping out.

LTA, and I think USTA in the states too, should attempt to recruit players from other sports like football/soccer, etc. It matches up well with the requirements of tennis (e.g., eye-hand coordination) and with the need for multi-sport athletes that can find something in tennis they may not find in football/soccer, skiing, etc.

I think it’s not right to just encourage kids age 4 to play the sport for a day and then leave them be and say YEAH we exposed a kid to tennis…that never works. I have seen many, many, many public clinics where kids learn tennis for the first time ever, and possibly for the last time (usually is my guess). It seems fundamentally misguided.

It’s a lot different to see a pro match first and then back into the sport. With so many empty seats at many tournaments, the least they could do is reach out to schools and communities and find some young fans. Actually grow some appreciation in and curiosity about the sport.

But as is standard: backwardness breeds more of same. My real intro to the sport was a friend’s birthday party with balls whizzing by – he was a young high ranked player in the 10 and unders. It didn’t make a huge impression but I remembered it when I took a few lessons a few years later and then saw a pro match. I wasn’t hooked until I saw myself getting better and playing sports more seriously, and then I said man, this is a cool sport. It was about a five year period of constant exposure. The best players were obsessives – they came from families that played a lot of tennis and a lot of sports overall, or had a crazy fanatical parent. Barring the latter, could find a lot of athletes that wouldn’t mind playing tennis.

Goes to show for me that the way the sport is brought to the masses is a terrible way to grow the sport.

The all-time greatest “ don’t you know who I am” story, whether really true or not. Is a story I heard of Gimelstob’s brother getting pulled over in New Orleans, and telling the cop” don’t you know who I am, I’m Justin Gimelstobs brother”…should have been locked up for that weak move..hope he was drunk, only excuse

So Gimelstob’s PR apparently extends to having someone posting on this site with no new information and defending these actions with no sense of accountability. How about he was wrong and he is taking responsibility for his actions. That is what we are looking for. Not fake PR and whatnot.

You say he has been “raising money” for years. I acknowledge that. The man is rich and knows many millionaires, I acknowledge that. As Andrew said, that doesn’t really tell us anything.

You say he has other interests outside of sports? Yet you don’t name one. It is clear that he doesn’t since he is so desperate to get back into the sport, and I say he is desperate when you have to resort to your buddies coming on the internet to defend you and having anonymous sources report on your good deeds that may or may not have happened.

I don’t want to know your name or who you are but you need to take a hard look at yourself if you support this kind of behavior. And it’s not surprising that Gimelstob has gone off the boil so many times with enablers like this on his side.

Jeff, I think it’s great Gimelstob donates to causes. I can be very cynical and see that in my opinion of Gimelstob – there’s nothing wrong with his donations to a cause he supports. If that helps with his recuperation all the better. If it also helps on the PR side fine…players and people do have reputations and many people like the idea of doing a good deed and also having higher status. I’ll go with the least cynical take I can: Gimelstob ok’d the press release noting his donation to attract his friends donations and raise more funds for the charity. It was marketing to people he knows for a cause he cares about and hopefully fetching some more funds for a good cause.

That’s as charitable I can be without saying something mean and possibly far from the truth. Or close to it. Whatever, good for Gimelstob and if his name merits more donations good for the charity for recognizing that.

As for the other issues I don’t know but I don’t believe people file restraining orders for fun, it’s a serious step. In theory they could but in this case the race between Gimelstob and his counterparties to attain restraining orders is interesting, I guess there is a mutual fear among all of them. The fact restraining orders were filed against Gimelstob in the past doesn’t help, but I’d guess there’s a larger story there too.

Generally and I hope those here recognise it I liked Gimelstob a lot and believed he and his game had a lot of promise. I don’t think he ever made good on the full promise of that potential on the court. Off the court he strikes me as a walking and talking tragedy. I didn’t enjoy his on court interviews – his last match I think the interviewer kind of implied that Gimelstob didn’t have to leap for all these balls and Gimelstob replied (odd in the first place to have an on court interview for the last match of a lower level player) that he leapt for every ball he could during his career. I don’t remember him being quite that and don’t believe he worked as hard as other players and he had said before that he had a certain laziness when it came to tennis. That he worked hard but not as hard as many. Well, it showed. His results showed that he didn’t work as hard as many others. His drop in athleticism showed he didn’t work as hard as many. His injuries showed he didn’t take care of himself as much as many, etc. At least he said this straightforwardly.

Gimelstob signed early with a big agency and it was a $million deal, which for the mid 1990s was pretty good. He had been a top US player his whole life as a junior, every division in every direction. He wasn’t breaking through and creeping alongside this inability to follow up some big wins was an equally enormous insecurity that was very obvious. The way the guy would lash out at himself…he had a special ability to put himself down with some of the worst words out there. Profane and definitely unsportsmanlike.

But whatever sometimes players are like that. There’s a lot of bad language out there and a lot of fines racked up.

Anyways I’m glad his case isn’t as severe as I said it was originally reported some time back. A misdemeanor is a lot better than a felony, and it’s still bad. Restraining orders are bad. And the things Gimelstob has done and invited are not good.

Sure I wish him well. I’m always up for a redemption story. I’d be glad to see Gimelstob find a way to tell some good stories and turn a leaf many times over. He’s shown up until now he isn’t capable and needs a lot of help from people that care, so that he stops with the games. Stops putting others down to protect his fragile ego. And starts acting like someone that has something bigger than himself to uphold. It’s going to be impossible without surrounding himself with people that have better judgement and that he can work for. Who believe in him but who he feels an obligation to uphold their standards for him.

It’s not quite right to say this, I hope Kyrgios takes a lesson from Gimelstob story. That he should seek help now rather than play out upsetting future scenarios that tarnish himself, his fellow players, and his sport.

Andrew – you can’t actually force people to play tennis, and in Britain it’s going to take a lot to wean boys away from football which is a far more popular sport overall and a million times more remunerative for those who make the top ranks.

As I said before I think it will take the appearance of a really star kind of young player (Gauff where are you ?) to catch public attention and give the LTA something to promote.

Catherine, not everyone can be a footballer 🙂 The UK has a healthy percent of the world’s tennis playing population, but has fewer coaches as compared with Spain, France, etc. I got this from the ITF report on tennis.

In terms of clubs and tennis, Germany and France have a lot more of them! So that’s surprising that they make the club nature of the sport a factor. I think it’s a lot more basic than that – people don’t know or like tennis that much. Their exposure is weak and as you said, no exciting young stars. Andy Murray is no longer young, and his runs these days inspire people like me, but not people a quarter or fifth my age 🙂

http://itf.uberflip.com/i/1169625-itf-global-tennis-report-2019-overview/11?

Catherine, the stats show the UK has a healthy # of players and coaches – somewhat fewer coaches than France, Germany – but the sport remains pretty popular relative to other countries (some of which have better, though not more, pro players).

The ITF report was…less than informative. Some areas of the world don’t produce many pro players. There…done!

I don’t know how it all works. I appreciate Judy Murray said this when Andy Murray said, mostly in jest, that she could or should head the LTA, “I think somebody asked me that once before and I said I’d rather die”