Kylie McKenzie wins $9 million sexual assault lawsuit against USTA

tennis

From Jenna Lemoncelli

Kylie McKenzie, a 25-year-old tennis player from Arizona who was once considered a child prodigy, was awarded $9 million in a federal lawsuit against the United States Tennis Association in which she claimed the organization failed to protect her from sexual assault by protecting them According to The Athletic, former coach Anibal Aranda was at the USTA training facility in Florida in 2018.

McKenzie said she was attacked by Aranda when she was 19 and he was 34 when she was in a backyard at the USTA’s Orlando training center, in a lawsuit filed against the organization in 2022 – in the it said the USTA failed to disclose that Aranda had assaulted one of her employees years earlier.

The lawsuit was filed after the US Center for SafeSport found it was “more likely than not” that Aranda touched McKenzie’s vagina over her clothing and groped her under the guise of showing her a serving technique in 2018, according to the lawsuit New York Times. who was reviewing a copy of the final judgment at the time.

Aranda denied ever inappropriately touching McKenzie in his testimony during a SafeSport investigation – and a USTA spokesman said they took immediate action to suspend and fire Aranda.

The coach also said he did not recall inappropriately touching another USTA employee.

This USTA employee brought her allegations against Aranda as part of the investigation into McKenzie’s claims.

McKenzie said she suffered from anxiety, panic attacks and depression as a result of the incident.

A jury on Monday awarded McKenzie, who is trying to revive her tennis career, $3 million in compensatory damages and $6 million in punitive damages – “finding that there was a conscious disregard for the rights and safety of others, which occurred in part.” “The USTA was trying to keep McKenzie’s case secret,” The Athletic reported after a week-long trial in Orlando.

“I feel vindicated,” McKenzie told The Athletic Monday from Florida. “It was very difficult, but I now feel like it was worth it. I hope I can be a role model for other girls to speak up, even when it’s difficult.”

USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier said in a statement the organization will “pursue all avenues of appeal,” although it understands what McKenzie has been through.

“The court held that the USTA was liable because one of its employees – a non-athlete – was required to report her own experiences with this coach to the USTA, an incident that only came to light after the USTA removed the coach. “This creates a new and unreasonable expectation among the victims that will prevent them from coming forward in the future,” said Widmaier.

Robert Allard, an attorney for McKenzie, said the jury made it clear that the USTA failed to regulate itself.

“They don’t put the athletes first,” Allard said. “There needs to be a complete change in the organization so that victims are not silenced but encouraged to come forward.”

McKenzie was once ranked in the top 10 in the United States

If you have been sexually assaulted and live in New York, you can call 1-800-942-6906 for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live out of state, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline 24 hours a day at 1-800-656-4673.