As soon as a tennis prodigy, Kylie McKenzie is being awarded $9 million in a federal lawsuit in opposition to the USA Tennis Affiliation, the place she claimed the group didn’t defend her from being sexually assaulted by her former coach at a coaching facility in Florida in 2018, per The Athletic.
Anibal Aranda, then 34 years previous, was McKenzie’s coach when she was a 19-year-old prodigy out of Arizona. McKenzie claimed in a 2022 lawsuit that Aranda had assaulted her on a again courtroom on the USTA’s Orlando coaching facility.
McKenzie said the USTA didn’t disclose that Aranda assaulted a former worker years earlier than her personal assault.
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Kylie Mckenzie returns a shot through the ITF World Tennis Tour W50 Sao Paulo at Clube Hipico de Santo Amaro on March 27, 2024, in Brazil. (Buda Mendes/Getty Photos for ITF)
McKenzie’s lawsuit was filed after the U.S. Heart for SafeSport discovered Aranda “extra seemingly than not” touched her vagina over her garments and groped her through the strategy of displaying her a serving approach in 2018, per The New York Occasions.
For the reason that assault, McKenzie mentioned she suffers from panic assaults, nervousness and despair.
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McKenzie was awarded $3 million in compensatory damages and $6 million in punitive damages after a jury decided “there was a aware disregard for the rights and security of others, given partially makes an attempt by the USTA to maintain McKenzie’s case quiet,” per The Athletic.
“I really feel validated,” McKenzie, who continues to be attempting to pursue a profession in tennis, instructed The Athletic on Monday. “It was very arduous, however I really feel now that it was all value it. I hope I might be an instance for different ladies to talk out even when it’s arduous.”
USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier mentioned his group will “pursue all avenues of enchantment” in an announcement that included sympathy for McKenzie.
Kylie Mckenzie through the ITF World Tennis Tour W50 Sao Paulo on March 27, 2024. (Buda Mendes/Getty Photos for ITF)
“The courtroom dominated that the USTA was liable as a result of one in every of its workers – a non-athlete – had an obligation to report her personal expertise with this coach to the USTA, an incident that was unknown till after the USTA eliminated the coach. This units a brand new and unreasonable expectation for victims, one that may deter them from coming ahead sooner or later,” the assertion learn.
Nonetheless, McKenzie’s lawyer, Robert Allard, countered Widmaier, saying the jury discovered the USTA failed to control itself.
“They don’t put athletes first,” Allard said. “There must be an entire change within the group so victims should not silenced however inspired to return ahead.”
Kylie Mckenzie serves within the singles match in opposition to Maria Mateas through the ITF World Tennis Tour W50 Sao Paulo on March 27, 2024. (Buda Mendes/Getty Photos for ITF)
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McKenzie joined the USTA’s full-time coaching staff out in California at 12 years previous, and she or he’d go on to win the nationwide U-16 championship at 15 years previous. When she was 18, she transferred to the Orlando facility.
Aranda has denied touching McKenzie inappropriately in 2018.
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