Tennis coach Pierre Bouteyre was accused of rape and sexual assault by French tennis player Fiona Ferro.
Fiona Ferro is one of the French players competing on the WTA Tour. In her still relatively short tennis career, the 25-year-old Frenchwoman has already tasted some success, breaking into the Top 40 of the WTA Rankings.
In 2019, she won a WTA 250 tournament in Lausanne, and she followed up on that win in 2020 in Palermo. She finished those two seasons in the Top 65 of the WTA Rankings, but has struggled since.
Last year, Ferro finished outside of the Top 100, and this year, she won only eight of the 23 matches that she played, also missing a lot of time and sliding out of the Top 250.
While she was not doing well on the tennis courts, it was now revealed that Ferro has been facing a challenging situation away from the courts as well.
According to a report by Agence France-Presse (AFP), as per ESPN, Ferro's former coach, Pierre Bouteyre, has been charged with rape and sexual assault.
The 25-year-old player accused her former coach of rape and sexual assault from 2012 until 2015, when now 50-year-old coach traveled with her. At the time she was between 15 and 18 years old.
In a statement provided to the AFP, according to ESPN, Bouteyre's lawyer admitted that the 50-year-old coach admitted to having a "relationship" with the player, but according to him, "it was a love story."
"He recognizes the relationship occurred but denies any coercion. It was a love story, according to him."
Immediately after the case was made public, Ferro received plenty of support. The French Tennis Federation (FFT) also released a statement about the case, with the president of FFT, Gilles Moretton, showing his support for the player.
"We would like to express our support for Fiona Ferro, while respecting the presumption of innocence, at a time that we know is particularly difficult for her. The FFT's sports integrity unit is currently assisting her and we will do everything we can to help her rebuild her life."
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