Roger Federer breaks silence on ATP assault controversy

Roger Federer has welcomed Justin Gimelstob’s resignation from the ATP board and suggested Chris Kermode should be “put back into the mix”.

Gimelstob was sentenced to three years of summary probation after pleading no contest to one misdemeanour count of battery with serious bodily injury in Los Angeles last week.

The 42-year-old was also given 60 days of community labour and a week of anger-management classes following his attack on former friend Randall Kaplan last October.

Federer says Gimelstob has done the right thing by stepping away from his role as a player representative with the governing body.

The former World No.1, speaking ahead of his return to clay-court tennis at the Madrid Masters, said: “It’s definitely the right move by Justin, he needs to go back and figure things out, there’s no doubt about that.

“The Tour needs to keep moving forward, it’s challenging and important times right now.

“I was speaking to some of the players on the council to get a feel where they were standing when everything was brewing and I’m happy this decision was taken by Justin and now we can move forward and learn from what happened.”

Kermode back?

Kermode was ousted as ATP president in March after failing to gain the necessary support, but 20-time grand slam champion Federer feels there could be a way back for the Englishman if he is interested.

“I haven’t thought about the Chris situation a lot,” he said.

“I don’t exactly know the process, when the votes are happening, when the CEO gets decided, he should maybe be put back into the mix but then again I don’t know if he would want to be after everything that’s happened.

“Sometimes after these things you’re like ‘okay, I had a good run’.

“I haven’t seen Chris for some time now, I haven’t spoken to him, so I don’t know where he stands.”