Dirk Hordorff has resigned from his position as Vice President of the German Tennis Association (DTB). The 66-year-old announced this through his lawyer on Wednesday. The DTB had recently asked Hordorff to resign from office several times after allegations of abuse. “I resigned my position as Vice President of the German Tennis Association today. I would also like to avoid damage to the DTB. I will now fully concentrate on refuting the untrue allegations on March 28, 2023 by the public prosecutor’s office in Frankfurt according to § 170 paragraph 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,” the statement said.
Chief public prosecutor Nadja Niesen, spokeswoman for the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office, confirmed the termination of the proceedings for legal reasons. “From our point of view, some of the criminal offenses have not been fulfilled or have become statute-barred,” said Niesen of the DPA.
On Monday, the DTB again called on Hordorff to resign, although the long-time official had rejected the allegations of sexualized violence and abuse of power as “simply untrue”. After the presidium, the ombudsman and spokesman for the federal committee also demanded that Hordoff resign from office by Wednesday.
Hordorff had let his office rest after serious allegations became known. NDR, “Sportschau” and “Süddeutsche Zeitung” had reported allegations by former tennis pro Maximilian Abel, among others, that there had been sexualized assaults for years.
Hordorff had denied the allegations and had his lawyer explain that there was no connection with the allegations that he was leaving his office. “Mr. Hordorff is currently not in a position to hold office due to an operation on an aneurysm that took place at the beginning of March,” the lawyer said.
