The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press reports that a U.S. District Court in Jacksonville, Florida has declined to unseal documents sought by ESPN relating to investigations into pro tennis players, ruling privacy interests outweigh the public’s right to access.
Judge Timothy Corrigan denied ESPN’s motion to unseal certain documents relating to ATP Tour’s former investigation into five Italian tennis players accused of wagering on the outcome of matches in violation of ATP rules. ESPN was specifically looking to view confidential documents that the Italian players claimed supported their position of "selective enforcement" of ATP’s anti-wagering rules. Those documents are alleged to contain information about other players (some who may have been stars) who were not suspended and fined by the ATP like the Italians were.
The ATP successfully argued that players who were not involved in the investigations "are likely to be injured" if the requested documents went public without giving them an opportunity to respond. "While there does not appear to be any 'smoking gun' documents involving these players, they do appear to disclose information concerning an ATP wagering investigation which contains the names of a number of professional tennis players,” Judge Corrigan wrote. “To release this gratuitously filed and unvarnished data in a circumstance in which the named players would have no opportunity to be heard or to respond, would be unfair to the players and would serve little or no public or First Amendment purpose."