Player awarded $13.5m after suing US tennis

A jury has awarded $13.5 million in damages to a tennis player after a court ruled that the United States Tennis Association (USTA) failed to protect her from being sexually assaulted by a coach.

Kylie McKenzie, a 25-year-old American tennis player, filed her lawsuit in March 2022 in the US District Court in Orlando, Florida, suing the USTA and USTA Player Development Incorporated while alleging her former coach, Anibal Aranda – who had been employed by the organisation at the time – “committed sexual assault and battery” against her.

McKenzie and her lawyers also accused the USTA of “gross negligence” by “employing but yet failing to properly supervise coach Aranda despite his known history of sexual predation was so reckless or wanting in care that it constituted a conscious disregard or indifference to the life, safety, or rights of” McKenzie.

In a press conference held in 2022, McKenzie said that the incident affected her performances on the court, as she dealt with anxiety, panic attacks and depression as a result of Aranda’s actions.

“My confidence and my self-esteem was gone,” McKenzie said, “both on and off the court.”

This week a jury awarded McKenzie $4.5 million in compensation and $9 million in punitive damages.

USTA spokesperson Chris Widmaier told CNN in a statement that the organisation would appeal the decision, saying that they are “sympathetic” to what McKenzie endured.

“The court ruled that the USTA was liable because one of its employees – a non-athlete – had an obligation to report her own experience with this coach to the USTA, an incident that was unknown until after the USTA removed the coach. This sets a new and unreasonable expectation for victims, one that will deter them from coming forward in the future,” Widmaier said.

Aranda has denied inappropriately touching McKenzie, according to The Athletic.

When contacted by CNN, McKenzie’s attorney, Robert Allard, criticised the USTA’s handling of the case, saying that they “just don’t get it.”

“I am convinced that the only way to make true change at USTA is, like USA Swimming, to effect a complete overhaul of leadership, from its CEO all the way down to its underhanded and heartless lawyers. Considering what is at stake, I will personally not rest until this is done.”

“I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. I feel validated,” McKenzie said in a statement sent to CNN. “It was very hard, but I feel now that it was all worth it. I hope I can be an example for other girls to speak out even when it’s difficult.”

McKenzie, who was seen as one of the rising stars in US tennis, moved to the USTA’s facility in Orlando when she was 19.

Shortly after, Aranda began to coach McKenzie. McKenzie alleges that Aranda remarked on her physical appearance, inquired about her personal life and would instigate inappropriate physical contact with her.

In October 2018, Aranda stood close behind McKenzie during what he said was a serving drill “so that his full body was pressed up against her back and butt, and then he grabbed her hips with his hands” according to the lawsuit.

As McKenzie “practiced the serve loading motion, coach Aranda’s fingers would move lower and lower down her groin and underwear line with each repetition as his body pressed tightly against her. With each serve repetition, coach Aranda would press harder and harder against Plaintiff’s body to the point where Plaintiff would almost tip forward and lose her balance,” the lawsuit says.

In her filing, McKenzie alleged that Aranda placed his hand on her thigh at the end of a practice session in November 2018, before sliding his hand under a towel on her lap and rubbing her groin over her clothes.

After reporting the alleged incident, an investigation was opened into Aranda by the US Center for SafeSport – an independent non-profit organisation tasked with safeguarding athletes from emotional, physical and sexual abuse.

According to the lawsuit, the investigation found that Aranda groped an employee – cited throughout the filing as “Jane Doe” – during a night out in New York in 2015, “grinding up on” her on a dance floor and then “rubbing her vagina, on the outside of her clothes.”

The investigation found that Aranda followed Jane Doe out of the club before attempting to get into a taxi with her, according to the filing. The employee never reported the incident. Aranda was subsequently fired by the USTA once the investigation concluded. He had been employed by the USTA for seven years.

The US Center for SafeSport declined to comment when approached by CNN.