With the 2015 Wimbledon tournament starting today, Spanish tennis decided to make a stand against the president of the Spanish Federation, José Luis Escañuela, and have called for his resignation.
In the letter, players announced that they met up, "with the objective to stem the deteriorating situation in Spanish tennis". They complained about, "Zero communication between the Spanish Federation and professional tennis players, especially with players involved in the Federation Cup and Davis Cup, a lack of transparency of how financial resources are distributed in the Federation and a lack of organization in grass-roots tennis"..These are the key points in the communique.
Further points of their complaint focus on the poor way that Spanish tennis has been promoted and marketed, they deem that the poor running of the Federation has seen a decrease in the number of playing licenses issued over the past years at a time when the sport has been at one of its most successful moments. The final point of the communique denounces: "the chaotic leadership of Mr. Escañuela who places his personal interests ahead of the sport". The letter ends: "We request with haste, that the powers that be act with authority and responsibility". The communique is signed by 22 elite tennis players, amongst others: Carla Suarez, David Ferrer, Rafa Nadal and Feliciano Lopez.
Full list of the 44 individuals (players, coaches, former players…) who signed the communique:
Carla Suárez, Garbiñe Muguruza, Silvia Soler, Anabel Medina, Lourdes Domínguez, María José Martínez, Arantxa Parra, David Ferrer, Rafael Nadal, Feliciano López, Tommy Robredo, Roberto Bautista, Guillermo García López, Pablo Andujar, Fernando Verdasco, Daniel Gimeno Traver, Albert Ramos, Pablo Carreño, Marcel Granollers, Nicolás Almagro, Marc López and David Marrero.
Toni Nadal, Pepo Clavet, Javier Duarte, Karim Perona, Albert Portas, Xavi Budo, Alejo Mancisidor, Gonzalo López, Carlos Costa and Tomas Carbonell.
Manolo Santana, Sergi Bruguera, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Carlos Moya, Alex Corretja, Alberto Berasategui, Jordi Arrese, Javier Sánchez Vicario, Roberto Carretero, Francis Roig, Joan Balcells, Beto Martin and Juan Avendaño.