04/18/24
August 29, 2011
Tennis Hall of Famer Accused of Molesting Girls: Tennis Hall of Fame doubles player Bob Hewitt, who won all four Grand Slam doubles titles during his career, sexually abused or harassed underage girls he trained as young as 10, according to a six-month Boston Globe investigation. "When I was 9, he started asking me if the other girls were virgins, when I didn't even know what a virgin was," said Suellen Sheehan, one of four women to come forward with allegations of sex abuse. "When I was 10, it escalated to him taking it into his own hands that he needed to teach me about what he called the birds and the bees. And that's what he did."
Nice quote near the end from John Korff, who I hope will soon be a former director at large of the US Tennis Association: "Gee, it's nice of the girl to pop up 35 years later. Give me a break."
There are four women who've come forward by name, which is extremely rare in these cases, and there are reportedly other victims. Korff's an asshole.
posted by rcade at 12:27 PM on August 30, 2011
Hold on, someone with a career in tennis is a shit? Color me shocked.
posted by yerfatma at 12:29 PM on August 30, 2011
Anyone who left Australia to move to apartheid South Africa in the 60s is already morally reprehensible in my book.
Should have known.
posted by owlhouse at 10:12 PM on August 30, 2011
They said his alleged misdeeds were no secret in the tightknit South African tennis community and should have been condemned long ago.
That's nice that the adults failed to protect the kids.