There have been many twists and turns surrounding Christer Gardell’s contribution to Swedish tennis.
Gardell promised 100 million kronor (about $9.5 million) to the association if the entire board resigned and Ulf Rosberg was elected chairman, and if the new board could present a clear vision and outline what it wanted to achieve in the future.
The board coup succeeded, but Gardell and Rosberg were reported to the Swedish Sports Confederation’s board (the national sports body) by the Sports Ombudsman, who believed Gardell’s conditional promise of money had unduly influenced the vote at the association’s annual general meeting.
In September, both Gardell and Rosberg were cleared by the board, and now the tennis federation says Gardell’s contribution will become a reality. The first payment of 20 million kronor (about $1.9 million) will be made in October.
"I was never worried about the process regarding the application, but we took it seriously. This is like closing the books on all that. I’ve been waiting a long time to be able to look ahead and move on," says Rosberg.
Three areas
The new direction, approved by Gardell, focuses on three areas.
The first is that we want to work more broadly with players at younger ages. The second is the transition from junior to senior, where we have to get much better. And the third is club development. We had 1,000 clubs 20 years ago. Now we have 350. We have to seriously support our clubs out in the country, says Rosberg.
He continues:
There are various initiatives in these areas. For example, when we talk about working more broadly, we will hire age-group managers so that we can have the opportunity to take care of more players. When it comes to the transition to senior, we will add more tournaments at home so that our players can stay in Sweden and still earn ATP points.
More sponsors on the way
Ulf Rosberg says the tennis association currently has revenues of around 40 million kronor (about $3.8 million) and that Gardell’s contribution is very welcome. But that money will not be enough to cover all the costs.
"We have lots of meetings with private individuals and other companies to further strengthen the financing. I don’t dare give a forecast, but I hope we can have additional sponsors ready by the end of the year," he says.
