Vile Nastase banned for sexism and racist jibes
TENNIS veteran Ilie Nastase has been issued a three-and-a-half year ban from the game after he was found guilty of racism and sexual harassment.
He sparked outrage at the Federation Cup tournament in Romania in April, when he asked GB captain Anne Keothavong for her hotel room number and drove British player Johanna Konta off court in tears.
He also speculated that Serena Williams’ unborn child would have the skin colour of ‘chocolate with milk’ because the father was a white man.
Nastase, 71, tried to excuse his remarks by claiming the late Arthur Ashe – who was black – was one of his best friends.
But the International Tennis Federation (ITF) concluded a three-month inquiry yesterday by ruling that the Romanian
had to be sanctioned for multiple breaches of conduct rules, including the ‘highly inappropriate and racially insensitive’ comment about Miss Williams’ baby.
The ITF adjudication panel also found him guilty of making ‘advances of a sexual nature’ towards Miss Keothavong, 33, and issuing ‘abusive and threatening comments’ to members of the British team, match officials and the press.
The captain of the Romanian Federation Cup was banned from working at any ITF competitions – the Federation Cup and Davis Cup – until 2021.
He will also be refused entry if he turns up as a spectator at any ITF event before 2019, and was fined £7,700.
Nastase, who won the French and US opens during his career, admitted ‘ inappropriate’ behaviour but said it was ‘in frustration and at a time of vulnerability’ and claimed media coverage was ‘exaggerated’.
He also said the umpire had been biased, and that his remark about Miss Williams’ baby was a ‘misinterpreted joke’. He has three weeks to appeal against the ruling.
Ilie Nastase’s abusive behaviour during Great Britain’s Fed Cup tie against Romania earned him two separate bans and a $ 10,000 (£ 7,700) fine yesterday from tennis’s international governing body.
However, the fractured nature of the sport’s ruling authorities mean that there is a limited amount of book-throwing that could be aimed in the direction of the former world No 1.
an internal adjudication panel at the international tennis Federation found the Romania Fed Cup captain guilty of several offences at the World Group ii play- off match that took place in april.
they included abusing British No 1 Jo Konta, making inappropriate advances towards captain anne Keothavong and a racially charged comment about serena Williams.
For this he will be banned from any role in the Fed or Davis Cups until 2021, and will not be allowed on site at any tournament that comes under the umbrella of the itF until 2019.
Yet the ever unsatisfactory lack of cohesion in tennis’s global governance means we may not have seen the last of him at prominent events.
Wimbledon has indicated that it will go along with any itF decision and, unsurprisingly, he did not receive one of his sporadic invitations to the Royal Box this year, or attend the fortnight in any form.
But the punishment is not binding over the Grand slams or the Wta and atP tours, where he could still be allowed to attend individual events.
For instance his long-time friend and ally, billionaire Madrid Open owner ion tiriac, invited him to hand over the trophy at the prestigious spanish event in May, and has been adamant that he will not change his stance.
Moreover, Nastase has three weeks to launch an appeal and, backed by a team of international lawyers, may choose to take that option.
the overriding lesson is that someone with such a volatile temperament and controversial history should never have been appointed to such a role, especially one involving a women’s team event.
the 16-page ruling released yesterday set out some of his scandalous behaviour that turned a low-key match into an international incident.
it states: ‘On 20 april, during his speech at the official dinner, Mr Nastase put his arm around Great Britain captain anne Keothavong and asked her for her hotel room number.
‘Mrs Keothavong responded to Mr Nastase’s request with words to the effect that she was married, to which Mr Nastase replied, “so am i, four times”.’
it also details what he insisted was a joke about serena Williams’s unborn child.
‘Mr Nastase made a comment in Romanian to another Romanian team member about Ms Williams’s unborn child, which has been translated as, “let’s see what colour it is. Chocolate with milk?”’
among the 1973 French Open champion’s defence was his insistence that he was taken out of context, and that he comes from a nation where racism is not ‘ as delicate an issue as it may be in other parts of the world’.
He also made the point that he was a close friend of the late arthur ashe, the only black man to win Wimbledon.
Nastase was also reported to have called Konta and Keothavong ‘f***ing bitches’ during the match, reducing the now world No 4 to tears. this eventually resulted in him being ejected from the stadium.
in addition he insulted an accredited British journalist, illegally entered tthe GB team room and sswore at match referee andreasa egli. it has turned out to be something of an annus horribilis for Nastase. since the investigation was launched his fourth wife Brigitte has told him she is divorcing him, although the reason seems to be his financial support of a previous spouse.
Nastase has made somewhat erratic attempts at subsequent apologies, and still has some support in Romanian tennis.
at 71, the truth is Nastase had little future anyway in an official capacity within the sport.
What the piecemeal nature of his punishment emphasises is that tennis struggles to push through much of significance due to the divisions among its alphabet soup of governing authorities.