In a letter sent to the President of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), David Haggerty, Romanian businessman Ion Tiriac calls for a public hearing in the ITF inquiry regarding Ilie Nastase, former Fed Cup team captain of Romania, during the match against Britain.
Titiac has also sent a letter to Steve Simon, WTA President, informing him that, following the aggressive comments coming from WTA, after Ilie Nastase attended the awarding ceremony of Madrid Open to Simona Halep, has decided to suspend the awarding of the trophy in Madrid, ziare.com informs.
In the letter sent to ITF, Ion Tiriac says the first intervention of Romania’s Fed Cup team captain was within the limits of his mandate and regulations. It is surprising why the chair umpire refused to take his intervention into consideration, his refusal triggering an inappropriate language from Mr. Nastase, which was consequently sent out of the court. Then hell broke out for our captain and the morale of our team, as well as for the reputation of the federation, Ţiriac wrote in the letter.
Tiriac requests ITF to clarify all relevant facts and to act in a correct and orderly manner to mitigate the consequences of the situation and to draw the correct conclusion, Ţiriac also wrote. He added that a public hearing is the only way to meet these objectives, all the more so since all formal and informal sanctions and insults against Mr. Năstase have been made public by the ITF. “For a balanced presentation of the situation, the media should have access to the entire investigation file, which overwhelmingly defends Mr Năstase,” said Ion Ţiriac, Năstase’s former doubles partner.
In his letter to Steve Simon, Ţiriac informs him that following WTA’s aggressive comments about the Madrid trophy this year, in the presence of Mr. Ilie Năstase, he has made the decision to withdraw the trophy awarded in the women’s tournament.
It is about the gold and diamond trophy as well as the massive silver replicas.
“The WTA cannot censor my freedom to make special invitations to the trophy awarding ceremony,” Tiriac says, who recalls that during the years, his invitation was accepted by the Queen of Spain, the Crown Prince of Spain and the mayor of Madrid.
I was informed that the WTA fined the tournament owner for allowing my guest to enter the tennis court at the awarding ceremony – again, I find the WTA behaviour aggressive and beyond its duties, Ţiriac concluded.