Tennis Special Report: Roger Federer- A Man of Class
In the past week, the IMG (International Management Group) has been facing a lot of bad publicity, due to the lawsuit filed against the company by a man called Jim Agate, who is the owner of the printing company, Agate Printing. Jim Agate claims that the
CEO of the IMG, which manages athletes such as Roger Federer and Tiger Woods, placed bets on the Swiss pro tennis player, receiving inside information from Federer on the outcome of certain matches, such as the 2007 French Open final. He allegedly used the
information to quadruple his $10,000 bet.
Agate claims to possess phone records, which he has filed with the court handling this case. The phone records supposedly prove that Ted Forstmann was in contact with both Roger Federer and Jim Agate himself on the night before the 2007 match at Roland Garros.
Agate claims that he immediately called a Costa Rican betting service.
This news could be potentially lethal to Federer’s career and his reputation; however, keeping in mind the class and dignity which the tennis star has demonstrated throughout his professional life, fans and critics alike are finding it very difficult to
believe that World Number 2 Roger Federer could be behind a scandal of this sort.
Federer himself has denied all such claims, and does not appear fazed by the accusation. Last week, in a conference during the Shanghai event, Federer told reporters, "If it were a different player, I would hope that it's obviously not true. But because
it involves my name somewhere out there, I know it's 100 percent not true. Pretty relaxed about this because I'm for complete honesty for the sport. Leave the game better off then when I arrived to the sport, even though it was already a great platform I had.
The last thing I would do is harm the sport ... I would never do such a thing."
At this point, for many fans and analysts, the matter rests completely on pure faith. Roger Federer is the kind of upright sportsman who inspires that faith. Even though he has been accused by Agate of passing information to his boss to gamble about his
own expected performance at a match, there are very few people who are inclined to believe this allegation; mostly because of the stellar reputation for respect and integrity which Federer has built up for himself over the years of his career. The evidence
against him is non-existent; there is nothing to tilt the scales in a position which would be embarrassing for the Maestro.
To help Federer’s case along, the IMG has produced authentic documents proving that Jim Agate in fact may somewhat be unbalanced. The documents apologize for the harassment which Agate is subjecting IMG to.
"I deeply regret falsely attacking your character and falsely describing your activities to many people,'' Agate has written.
"I apologize for all my erratic and harassing e-mails. I did not intend to hurt you, but I was extremely frustrated. My energy has been misplaced for some time and I believe those days are over.''
Roger Federer remains the kind of player whom fans have innate respect and faith in a true champion. Greg Couch from Tennis Fanhouse says,
“I'm choosing not to believe a lawsuit that accuses Roger Federer of feeding inside information about his game to his agent's boss at IMG, who then used it to gamble illegally. At this point, it's about faith. I have it in Federer, who seems impeccable,
never having done anything but help the sport with class.”
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