A one-year prison sentence for the referee who sent Djokovic off at the US Open

German referee Soren Freemel, who ousted Novak Djokovic from the 2020 US Open, has been sentenced to a year in prison for misconduct and abuse of power.

The German, who was absent from last year’s Wimbledon tour for personal reasons, has reportedly been on some sort of voluntary availability since last June.

Freemel was blamed for his behavior by a younger referee, sparking a five-month investigation, according to British media.

The German has been head of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) since 2014 and is considered one of the top referees of the last 10 years.

“The allegations involved inappropriate comments about a specific person” said an ITF spokesman.

The complaints report to the German referee contains four different cases involving the same person.

The subsequent investigation involved a series of interviews from multiple sources until the verdict was announced last December, which was upheld last Monday (1/31) as Freemel did not win the appeal.

Freemel was found to have breached three clauses of the Code of Conduct, including Article 13 which requires it to do so “Employees must not engage in unjustified, unprofessional, criminal or immoral conduct.”

He also allegedly violated Article 14, which states so “Officials must not abuse their position/authority and will not endanger the mental, physical or emotional well-being of any other official, player or tournament staff.”

Freemel’s one-year suspension reportedly dates from June 19, 2021 and expires at midnight on June 18, 2022.

Frimel played at the US Open 2020 where he sent off Novak Djokovic with the Serb making the lineup during the match against Spaniard Pablo Karenio Busta for the 4th round of the tournament.

source: Tennis24.gr