A WIMBLEDON finalist has told how she was sexually harassed at least thirty times by a female tennis official.
Andrea Jaeger, 57, claims that when she complained to the Women’s Tennis Association, she was threatened and told not to raise the issue again.
Andrea Jaeger was seeded at Wimbledon when she was just 15
She has now alleged she was sexually harassed by a female official
Jaeger told the Independent she used portable toilets or a bathroom stall “because I didn’t want to deal with the comments, the interest or actions of people”.
“I had at least 30 incidents with one specific non-playing staff member, physical attempts all in the locker room very, very early in my career,” she said.
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“That particular non-playing staff employee had a major issue keeping her hands to herself.
“I avoided being in training rooms alone because an approach was made on me there as well.”
The American turned professional at 14 was good enough to be seeded at Wimbledon aged 15.
In 1983 she reached the Wimbledon final but lost against Martina Navratilova.
Having won 10 singles and millions of dollars, she quit the sport, aged 20, due to injuries and is now a nun.
Jaeger said she was served soft drinks spiked with alcohol at a players’ party following the WTA Championships in 1982.
She was then subjected to another physical approach by a different employee who was giving her a lift home, when she was 16.
“I went with her and her girlfriend in the car,” she said.
“When we got to my condo, she walked me to the door and tried something on with me.
“She was trying to kiss me. I was so sickened that I was crawling up the stairs inside trying not to throw up so my dad wouldn’t see me.”
But when she confided to someone in authority at the WTA, she was told her sister’s scholarship to the prestigious Stanford university would be pulled.
“Every time I tried to stand up for myself, I was threatened with someone else getting harmed,” she said.
Admitting she was burnt out from tennis, Jaeger decided to dedicate the rest of her life to good causes
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In 2006 Jaeger became Sister Andrea a Dominican nun and member of the Episcopal Church in Santa Rosa Beach Florida.
The WTA has been approached for comment.
In 1983 she lost in the Wimbledon final