One of the most senior tennis umpires in the world has been suspended from the Tour after historical allegations of unethical conduct and abuse of power.
The Telegraph newspaper has confirmed that Germany’s Soren Friemel has been handed a year ban from the sport following a five-month investigation conducted into the claims made against him. It is understood that he initially entered into a voluntary suspension on June 19th. Then in December he was first handed the ban before launching an appeal against it. That appeal was unsuccessful and his ban has come into place.
The International Tennis Federation says the action has been taken following ‘inappropriate comments and invitations to an individual.’ The government body was made aware of four different incidents which took place between 2011 and 2015 involving the same younger male umpire who has not been publicly named.
“The complaint was that Soeren made inappropriate comments and invitations to an individual,” The ITF told The Telegraph. “The issue was the situation of power imbalance, which led the investigating officer and the panel to find a breach of the code”.
An independent panel found that Frimel broke three clauses of the Joint Certification Programme Code of Conduct. These include the article 13 which states “Officials shall not engage in unfair, unprofessional, criminal or unethical conduct” – and Article 14: “Officials shall not abuse his/her position of authority or control, and shall not compromise the psychological, physical or emotional wellbeing of other Officials, players or tournament personnel.”
Friemel’s suspension is highly significant considering his position in the sport. In 2019 the US Open named him their tournament referee after previously serving as their chief umpire between 2016-2018. Meaning that he had the final say regarding all officiating matters during the tournament. He was the official who Novak Djokovic spoke with during his fourth round encounter at the US Open where he was defaulted after inadvertently hitting a lines judge with a tennis ball.
The German has worked as a Grand Slam supervisor since 2001 and was a member of the referee’s team at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. He has also worked at Davis Cup and Fed Cup finals during his career. As a gold badge umpire, which is the highest ranking, he also plays a role in deciding which umpires get promoted within the sport.
Despite being suspended back in June, Friemel was present at the US Open last September during the week of qualifying. However, he soon departed the tournament in what was an unusual development. At the time the United States Tennis Association (USTA) said his departure was due to “personal reasons” and made no reference to the temporary suspension he was serving at the same time.
As for his future in the sport, the ITF has told the Telegraph that they are looking into the matter without elaborating any further.
“Soeren remains under suspension and we are reviewing our course of action.” An ITF spokesperson said.
Friemel’s suspension has been backdated to June 19th 2021 which means he could retire back to the Tour this summer and even still referee at the final Grand Slam of this season.
According to the ITF, as of December 11st 2021 14 tennis officials have been hit with sanctions ranging from suspension to lifetime bans for violating the rules. This number doesn’t include Friemel as his suspension was confirmed after this date.
