Journal Frankfurt Nachrichten – “I’ve seen a lot, but there has never been anything like it in tennis”
At a tennis game at the end of September, a dispute between a player from TuS Makkabi and the trainer from THC Höchst is said to have escalated. The supreme coach, it is alleged, is said to have pulled out a jackknife. Now the state security is investigating.
During a break in the rain, he and Wurman went towards the staircase, the trainer had already waited there and followed him with “sharp eyes”, reports Schnabel. “I asked him why he was looking at me as if he wanted to hit me,” continued Schnabel. Then the mood heated up, the two stood head to head in front of each other. Then all of a sudden his teammate Wurman intervened and yelled at the coach why he had a knife with him. “It came as a complete surprise to me,” said Schnabel, who couldn’t see the closed knife at navel level in the situation. In addition to Wurman, other witnesses are said to have seen the knife.
The trainer immediately put the jackknife in his pocket and withdrew into the crowd behind him. Marc Wurman asked him to get his knife out of his pocket. “Then he took out his cell phone, but you could tell that he still had something in his pocket,” says Wurman. Shortly afterwards, the Supreme Coach ran away. Makkabi President Alon Meyer is stunned: “I’ve seen a lot, especially in football, but there has never been anything like that in tennis.”
What follows are numerous emails and conversations, of which Maccabi is disappointed. There is talk of “unfortunate tumultuous incidents” on the part of the highest THC; On the same day of the event, an email from THC Höchst focused on the score of the game – Maccabi left the pitch after the incident and abandoned the game – and not the accusation against the coach. Instead of an apology, there is an appointment for a replay shortly afterwards, which should take place two weeks after the incident. “Unfortunately, the highest THC only dealt with the core incident of the abandonment of the game, namely the accusation of the knife threat and the subsequent escape of the club trainer,” says Meyer.
The central question that stands in the room for TuS Makkabi is why the Supreme Trainer had a knife with him at all. As a criminal complaint, Schnabel drew the attention of a police officer to the fact that the trainer could have acted out of anti-Semitic motives. When visiting the coach’s Facebook page, Schnabel discovered several anti-Israeli postings. These entries have now been deleted, but the editors have archived them.
The highest trainer has not yet responded to repeated requests from the editorial team. About a week after the tennis game, on October 5, the coach wrote a letter to Maccabi President Alon Meyer, in which he rejects the allegations and distances himself from the anti-Semitism allegations. “I admit that in the past I have criticized the Israeli authorities for being aggressive towards demonstrators, but I would like to say once again with all my might that I have never said or done anything against fellow Jews because of their religion,” it says in writing. According to Schnabel and Wurman, he has not yet reported to the two players. However, there is a letter of apology from the highest THC.
Furthermore, the highest club has taken action and terminated the coach in April 2022. However, the work-up is not yet over. In the meantime, the state security is investigating the matter.