THE TR NEWSLETTER: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUary 25, NO.
316
The Zina Garrison Lawsuit: Does the Former Fed Cup Captain have a Leg
to Stand On? Mediocre Record Doesn't Match Claims By
Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net
Garrison
wasn't pleased her salary didn't match McEnroe's.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 25 - Former Fed Cup captain Zina Garrison filed a lawsuit
against the USTA last week alleging racial discrimination, but her case
appears to be full of holes and she’ll have a hard time proving
she was treated any differently than any other captain who failed to bring
home a big trophy.
In the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court, a copy of which was obtained
by TennisReporters.net, Garrison – who was employed by
the USTA for a decade -- claims she was treated unfairly by then Fed Cup
chairwoman Sarah Forniciari, was unfairly paid a lower salary than Davis
Cup coach Patrick McEnroe and was subjected to higher performance standards
than he was.
The USTA is denying any allegation of discrimination against the African-American
Garrison.
While charges of racial discrimination should always be take seriously,
the vast majority of Garrison’s suit appears to have no merit. The
only portion of it that might cause the USTA to cringe is allegations
that Forniciari made racially charged comments toward Garrison, a charge
that Forniciari is sure to deny and one that is going to be hard to prove
unless Garrison is able to bring in witnesses who heard those words uttered.
Plus, Forniciari is a volunteer, not a paid USTA employee who was doing
performance reviews, so even if she did make some disparaging remarks,
they might not hold much water in court as she wasn’t in a position
to do the hiring and firing.
Just how Garrison and her attorneys are going to be able to argue that
she should have kept her job after failing to reach even one final in
five seasons – the U.S.’s longest drought in history-- is
puzzling.
Garrison actually claims that the U.S. Fed Cup team – which has
won more titles than any nation with 17 – “repeatedly surpassed
expectations.” Oh no it didn’t, in fact, the team vastly underachieved
and of Garrisons 10 ties as captain from 2004-2008, where she held a 5-5
record, there was only one occasion where it exceeded expectations, in
the 2006 opening round against Germany away, when she led an inexperienced
team (Jill Craybas and Jamea Jackson in singles) to a red clay upset.
Other than that she can’t count one significant victory over a good
team.
Part of that is not her fault, as when Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati
checked out, the U.S. was left with three great players—Serena and
Venus Williams, and Lindsay Davenport.
Once a Fed Cup warrior, the veteran Davenport essentially had grown tired
of the competition when Garrison took over (hence her participation in
just two ties under Garrison).
Serena has shown time and time again that Fed Cup means little to her,
which is the reason why she has only played one significant tie since
1999 and only played once for Garrison in a first round cakewalk over
Belgium in the first round of 2005.
The suit also claims that there was too much pressure put on Garrison
to get Serena and Venus to play, but that’s a bit absurd, considering
they’ve been the US’s two top players for much of the past
10 years. Why wouldn’t top U.S. officials want the captain to get
the Williams sisters to compete? They are the nation’s best players
regardless of race and were critical to team victories.
Garrison has said privately that convincing Serena to play post Wimbledon
was all but a lost cause, so why is she now claiming that the reason for
Serena’s multiple no-shows were based on injuries? Part of Serena’s
no-shows were surely based on trying to prevent injuries later in the
summer, but there is no way Garrison is going to be able to prove that
Serena’s was injured for nine for of the 10 times when she chose
not to play Fed Cup under Garrison. Just like earlier this month, when
Serena declined to play the first round tie against Argentina under new
captain Mary Joe Fernandez, saying it didn’t fit with her plans,
Serena has put her individual goals above Fed Cup.
Garrison did convince her friend Venus to play some very important ties,
but even with the now five-time Wimbledon champ, was unable to take down
the US’s main rival, Russia. Had Garrison managed to convince Serena
or (Davenport) to play the 2005 semi against Russia in Moscow along with
Venus, or the 2007 semi against Russia in Vermont, or the 2008 semifinals
against Russia again in Moscow last April, Garrison likely would have
posted at least one win against that ultra powerful nation and eventually
come away with a team title, but she didn’t.
The writing was clearly on the in the summer of ‘07, when playing
at home against Russia, she could not coax her squad to victory, as Venus
and Lisa Raymond choked a stunning doubles loss to Nadia Petrova and a
Fed Cup greenhorn, Elena Vesnina.
Garrison is also contending that she had similar success to that of McEnroe,
which is odd, considering that McEnroe’s team have a 16-7 record
to date, he has usually gotten the top guys to compete, and in 2007, brought
the Davis Cup title home. Moreover, as of late, Davis Cup teams have been
forced to play more ties than Fed Cup teams have, since the draws are
bigger. Fed Cup team only have to win two matches not to reach the final,
so maybe that’s the reason why McEnroe has a higher salary than
she did.
There are also claims in the suit that Garrison communicated well with
players, but at Wimbledon 2007 prior to the Russia semi, when she picked
No. 74 Vania King over Meilen Tu, Meghann Shaughnessy, Laura Granville
and No. 64 Jill Craybas, some players did complain about not hearing from
her. King was in the midst of a lousy year and has just waxed by Nadia
Petrova at Wimbledon. For her part, Tu had a decent but not great year,
but she was ranked No. 38, won a round at Wimbledon and played Ana Ivanovic
tough in a 6-4, 6-3 loss. Shaughnessy was ranked No. 33, had just won
Barcelona and was a more accomplished doubles player than King. Granville
had staged a bit of a revival and had reached the fourth round of Wimbledon.
Garrison said she chose King because she loved the team chemistry during
the first round tie in Delray Beach and didn’t want to do anything
to affect it. Tu – who did end up being called upon to play after
Serena withdrew—said Garrison never called her and added that she
“never even met her.”
Granville, who played under Billie Jean King, and Craybas, who played
under Garrison in 2005, said they hadn't received a call during the past
month, either.
“A call or an e-mail to the girl in the top 100 or the next 3 or
4 in line would be good,” said Craybas, who in 2005, recalled returning
to Californian post Wimbledon, then received a Fed Cup call and had to
fly to Moscow two days later even though she would have preferred to stay
in London. “I’d like to know because they are out fellow Americans
and it’s only fair to the players to let them know so you can figure
our your schedule. Vania proved herself in April and Zina has said she
wanted to get the young players exposed to the atmosphere and it’s
her decision because she’s the captain, but at the same time its
hard to overlook the other girls at well. Meilen, Laura and Meghann and
I have been playing well in singles and doubles. I understand she’s
looking at the other girls but its’ questionable. The biggest thing
is communication and there’s not a lot of that going on. A lot of
players I talked to our frustrated about it and sometimes we ask each
other and say do you know who’s going?”
Granville added, ““I think she should let a few people know
if someone does pull out that she has them in mind. It’s hard when
you are called last minute. I’ve noticed that players like Meilen
and me, we’re not even on the radar screen and were not even in
her thinking. She has her own way of doing it that was different than
Billie Jean King.”
Garrison also claims that in November 2007, she was told that 2008 would
be her last year and that the USTA hired Fernandez as her coach without
her consultation. Fernandez was hired with the understanding that she
would take over as captain in 2009. Garrison claims that Fernandez shouldn’t
have been named captain over her because she lacked the necessary coaching
experience. She also claims that the Hispanic American Fernandez is receiving
a higher salary, but that the USTA will claim that’s because Fernandez
is doing some additional public appearances it.
Among other charges, Garrison says that she didn’t receive enough
support and that Fed Cup player compensation was cut during her tenure,
where only the top-10 players began to receive $50,000 per tie, which
says that every player got before that.
What’s going to be particularly hard for Garrison to prove is any
pattern of discrimination, especially when she was a USTA employee for
10 years, was named the first African –American women’s Olympics
coach in 2004 and also held that post last summer. She essentially claims
that it was King who got her the job as Fed Cup coach under her in 1999
and who demanded that she be named as her replacement in 2004 and if not
for King, she might not have never been asked to fill a post. But how
does that fit together with the fact that she also served as USTA board
member, where she had to be nominated by a committee that had more than
its fair share of white people?
It’s sounds like Garrison is looking for some kind of settlement
because a jury trial will not only be rough on her coaching resume, but
could put on the stand numerous people who have been important to her
career and who do not want to be grading her performance in public.
This appears to be the former Wimbledon finalist’s last dance as
a major force in the pro game, as after the dust settles, who is going
to want to take a chance in hiring her?
