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Garrison's Strange Lawsuit;
By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net

According to the Sports Business Journal, Zina Garrison, arguably the least successful captain in U.S. Fed Cup history, is about to sue the USTA for racial discrimination. Garrison, whose tenure as captain was marked by team ineptitude and a mediocre 5-5 record, is said to have been in unsuccessful settlement talks with the USTA.

Her lawyer told the SBJ that Garrison is seeking millions of dollars in back pay and damages.
The possibility of a suit is stunning, given that Garrison, former Fed Cup coach, was handed the job after Billie Jean King resigned in 2004 and lobbied heavily for her assistant to be given the post. In four years as captain, Garrison failed to secure even one title for the 17-time Cup champion U.S. In her 10 matches as captain, the team had a 5-5 record and was unable to win a significant match, as she was unable to recruit Serena Williams to play more than once and even though she had her friend Venus on the squad for the 2007 semifinals at home in Vermont against Russia (her one great chance to take down that mighty team), she could not coax the squad to victory, as Venus and Lisa Raymond gagged in a stunning doubles loss to Nadia Petrova and Elena Vesnina.

Other US players –such as Jill Craybas, Laura Granville and Meilen Tu, complained about Garrison’s lack of communication skills. Last year, the USTA announced that Garrison would be replaced by Hispanic-American Mary Joe Fernandez in 2009, and Garrison seemed to be pleased with the transition and said she was ready to pursue other interests. The U.S. was swept by Russia on clay in Moscow.

Garrison has also served as USTA board member and committee member, as well as a two-time Olympic captain, so it’s not as if she's been ignored. In fact, her captaincy was pretty heavily promoted. Her friend, Fernandez, has to be embarrassed, and the same might go for King. The USTA is not planning to settle, so things could get ugly. Stay tuned.

http://www.tennisreporters.net/garrison_011309.html

[HawksBurnDown]

Yikes. How do you really feel?

[Retapleapse]

It's going to be interesting to see what her specific grounds are, especially if she's claiming racial discrimination. She replaced a lesbian, and was replaced by a Hispanic. And her record as Fed Cup Captain just wasn't that good.

[HawksBurnDown]

It's going to be interesting to see what her specific grounds are, especially if she's claiming racial discrimination. She replaced a lesbian, and was replaced by a Hispanic. And her record as Fed Cup Captain just wasn't that good.

The Hispanic part clearly being laid out in the article. Curious how many friends she's going to find herself with taking on the USTA, regardless of the validity of her claims.

[Xqjfxmfk]

From what I know, the reason why she is now suing is because they could not reach a settlement.

I'd like to hear what people like Venus, Lindsay and Serena have to say about this.

[rostpribru]

From what I know, the reason why she is now suing is because they could not reach a settlement.

Why did they have to settle anything? That's not what usually happens with unsuccessful coaches after they lose their jobs, right?

[SHpuntik]

From what I know, the reason why she is now suing is because they could not reach a settlement.

I'd like to hear what people like Venus, Lindsay and Serena have to say about this.

I'm wondering about that, too, since the lack of communication claims all came from third-stringers. Maybe she spent too much time courting the top players?

[Retapleapse]

From what I know, the reason why she is now suing is because they could not reach a settlement.

I'd like to hear what people like Venus, Lindsay and Serena have to say about this.

When she was hired, I think the speculation was that the #1 goal was to get Serena and Venus to play more Fed Cup. And that didn't happen. She got Lindsay to play twice, once in '05, once last year.

[Gastonleruanich]

Well, I figured there was probably more to this.

Zina's record DID suck. But the only elite athlete who truly committed to her was Venus, but her body didn't always cooperate. Serena was on her professional walkabout for much of that time; Lindsay struggled with injuries and had a baby. So Zina was basically stuck with Venus and a collection of scrubs. So Zina's record is more of a reflection of a lack of commitment and a dire shortage of talent.

Mary Jo's record as Fed Cup captain will be much worse than Zina's. Lindsay is gone. Venus is loyal to Zina and will be happy to give Mary Jo the middle finger. And Serena just doesn't much care about Fed Cup.

For me, the most disturbing part of the piece was the players' complaints about Zina's communications skills. I don't know what they mean about that. But if she was an ineffective leader, then she doesn't deserve to have the job.

It's a shame, however, that it has come to this.

[gactanync]

It's going to be interesting to see what her specific grounds are, especially if she's claiming racial discrimination. She replaced a lesbian, and was replaced by a Hispanic. And her record as Fed Cup Captain just wasn't that good.

Yeah, it's especially interesting considering that a Latin American is replacing her, IMO.

Her record isn't necessarily her fault, as Dry noted.

Like GVG said, I'd love to see what the top American players have to say about it. I'm thinking the USTA has a$ked them not to comment on it, however.

[putza]

GVGirl probably knows more about how this works in tennis but in the entertainment business you sign a contract for "X" amount of time and "X" amount of money. If you are dismissed for "performance" issues prior to the end of the contract you are usually given some kind of negotiated settlement. From what I make of this what the USTA is offering is radically different from what Ms Garrison and her lawyer want. These things usually don't go public though so I wonder what happened to force it into the public realm.

I also see that the USTA has a new Diversity Director. I guess this is his welcome to the team gift.

[Tapupah]

This is a sad and embarrassing turn of events.