The ATP quietly began cutting ties last year with former board member Justin Gimelstob’s video company, Without Limit Productions. Gimelstob last week announced his resignation from the seven-member board after pleading no contest in April to assaulting a friend of his ex-wife’s in a 2018 Halloween night altercation in Los Angeles.
Justin Gimelstob resigned from the ATP board following a legal matter.getty images
While Gimelstob’s board seat has received critical attention inside tennis, less so is the case with his personal business ties to the ATP. Since at least 2012, Gimelstob’s production company, which has two employees, has had a contract to produce the show “ATP Uncovered” in the U.S. The show largely aired online.
Between 2012 and 2017, the ATP paid WLP $3.56 million, according to the ATP’s most recently available tax returns. That is in addition to the $1.4 million the ATP directly paid Gimelstob. It’s unclear how much of that was tied to his board duties, but fellow player board representative David Egdes earned $100,000 in 2017 while Gimelstob earned $360,998.
In the wake of Gimelstob’s initial refusal to resign from the board after pleading no contest, tennis insiders have raised as a conflict the ATP paying a board member for its video work.
“How much exactly does Justin Gimelstob and his companies financially benefit from the ATP?” tweeted Richard Ings, a former executive vice president at the ATP. “Fees to his production company and his Board fees and stipends amount to exactly how much? 6 or 7 figures?”
In a statement, the ATP said: “The ATP’s weekly magazine show, ATP Uncovered, has been and continues to be predominantly produced by Clean Cut Media, a UK-based production company. In addition, ATP had a separate agreement with Without Limits Productions (WLP) to assist with U.S.-based production requirements — this contract was not renewed at the end of last year, however ATP has continued to work with long-standing and valued staff at WLP at certain tournaments in 2019 in order to ensure the delivery of the weekly programme. The production arrangements for the continued successful delivery of ATP Uncovered are due to be assessed moving forward. Separately, Justin Gimelstob’s role as host on the ATP Uncovered programme was not renewed at the end of 2018.”
In December, some board members pushed to remove Gimelstob, formerly an influential power broker in tennis, from the board. Tennis Channel announced last week that Gimelstob would not return as a commentator.
