{"id":358661,"date":"2025-12-19T17:02:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T17:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/358661\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T17:02:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T17:02:08","slug":"atp-tours-new-policy-adds-protection-training-potential-of-bans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/358661\/","title":{"rendered":"ATP Tour&#8217;s new policy adds protection, training, potential of bans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LONDON &#8212; The ATP Tour set out a new safeguarding policy Friday which aims to ensure players and staff feel safe from abuse on tour and know how to report inappropriate behavior.<\/p>\n<p>In a move which mirrors <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.au\/tennis\/story\/_\/id\/46038817\/atp-says-program-flagged-162000-abusive-online-comments-players\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">work done by the WTA in women&#8217;s tennis<\/a>, the ATP&#8217;s code of conduct sets out how investigations should be conducted and a range of potential punishments, from reprimands up to permanently revoking access to its tournaments.<\/p>\n<p>The ATP also says it will launch training for players, coaches and staff throughout next year.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Everyone involved in our events &#8211; from players and their teams to staff and volunteers &#8211; deserves to feel safe, respected, and valued,&#8221; chief executive Eno Polo said in a statement. &#8220;This program helps make that a reality. By introducing clear protections against abuse, we&#8217;re strengthening the culture of tennis and aligning our sport with global standards of governance and care.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The code of conduct covers areas like bullying, sexual harassment and violence, as well as behavior which could constitute an &#8220;abuse of trust&#8221; in a professional relationship.<\/p>\n<p>It also commits players, coaches and tour personnel to report any concerns about abusive behavior and to tell the ATP&#8217;s safeguarding director if they are facing investigations from police or social services about &#8220;any behavior constituting either a criminal offence or a safeguarding concern.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Friday&#8217;s launch of the safeguarding program brings more structure to the tour&#8217;s approach, which was previously in the spotlight when the ATP commissioned an investigation in 2021 into German player <a data-player-guid=\"fd06b6ea-593b-d5b3-da2b-767ec3e4232c\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/sports\/tennis\/players\/profile?playerId=2375\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alexander Zverev<\/a>. The ATP said in 2023 that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.au\/tennis\/story\/_\/id\/35562512\/alexander-zverev-face-discipline-investigation-abuse-claims\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the investigation found &#8220;insufficient evidence&#8221; to substantiate domestic abuse allegations<\/a> against Zverev, a three-time Grand Slam runner-up, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.au\/tennis\/story\/_\/id\/38791810\/alexander-zverev-fined-court-physical-abuse-allegations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">who denied wrongdoing<\/a>. He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.au\/tennis\/story\/_\/id\/40297272\/alexander-zverev-settles-abuse-case-brought-former-girlfriend\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">settled the case<\/a> in June of 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON &#8212; The ATP Tour set out a new safeguarding policy Friday which aims to ensure players and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-358661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}