Elite Phoenix Tennis Player Sues USTA Over Sex Abuse

PHOENIX, AZ — Kylie McKenzie and her family put their trust in the United States Tennis Association from the time the Phoenix athlete moved to California to train when she was just 12 years old.

But USTA broke that trust by assigning a coach to McKenzie who had previously sexually assaulted one of USTA's own directors, McKenzie said in a lawsuit she filed in federal court in Florida on Tuesday. The coach went on to assault McKenzie as well, according to the suit.

“I am here because I don’t want anyone else to experience what I have,” McKenzie said during a Tuesday news conference in Phoenix. “I hope that by speaking out, other young girls and women are not silenced or afraid to speak up. I hope to bring positive change and increase awareness to these issues so that other young athletes do not have to worry about being sexually assaulted at practice and can just focus on doing what they love, which is playing tennis.”

The coach, Anibal Aranda, is accused of sexually assaulting McKenzie during tennis training in Florida in 2018, when McKenzie was 19 years old, according to the suit. Aranda repeatedly denied that he touched Mckenzie inappropriately, according to a report last week in the New York Times. But the U.S. Center for SafeSport, the entity that investigates reports of sexual abuse among U.S. athletes, found it "more likely than not" that Aranda assaulted McKenzie. As a result, Aranda was banned from the sport for two years, and placed on probation for two more years, according to McKenzie and her lawyers.

The director who also accused Aranda of sexual assault did not tell anyone about the 2015 assault, until after she heard about McKenzie's allegations against Aranda, a USTA spokesperson told the New York Times.

“As of August of 2018, defendants knew or reasonably should have known of Coach Aranda’s propensity to sexually batter, threaten, harm, assault, and otherwise mentally, physically, and emotionally injure female athletes,” McKenzie's lawyers said in the suit.

In the suit, McKenzie and her lawyers demand a review of USTA's athlete protection system by an independent body and congressional hearings to hold accountable those within USTA who the suit said turned a blind eye to the sexual abuse of athletes. The suit also calls for the decertification of USTA as a national governing body or an overhaul of its leadership system.

McKenzie said she, like many other young, elite athletes, had placed her complete trust in USTA. McKenzie was born and raised in Phoenix but was recruited to train at a USTA center in California when she was just 12, so her care was basically entrusted to the organization.

"I always saw them as guardian figures," she said of USTA.

But those feelings went by the wayside when she was assaulted, and her once-promising career suffered from the impact of the assault, she said. She experienced anxiety, depression and crippling panic attacks.

“My confidence and my self-esteem was gone both on and off the court,” McKenzie said. “My trust in people was diminished, affecting both my personal and professional relationships.”

She attempted to continue training and competing, but said that while on the court, she was completely consumed by anxiety.

McKenzie has since been working toward healing and has been training in the Phoenix area with hopes of returning to the pro circuit or playing at the college level, she said during the news conference.

McKenzie said she wasn't sure if other girls and young women had experienced the same type of behavior with other USTA coaches, but added that, "USTA has fostered a culture of inappropriate behavior between coaches and athletes."