Italian tennis player Giulia Pairone accuses coach of sexual violence, mistreatment

Giulia Pairone recently accused her long-time coach Ivano Rolando of sexual violence and mistreatment. The prosecutor has demanded six years and four months in prison, while the defense has maintained that nothing is proven as of now.

Pairone said that Rolando put multiple restrictions on her such as stopping her from having boyfriends, going out with friends, and forcing her to dress a certain way.

“He prevented her from having boyfriends and going out with friends, forced her to always dress in tracksuit so as not to attract men and called her several times during the day, with many jealous scenes. Tennis has nothing to do with all this," the prosecutor said.

The 28-year-old detailed the torment she had to go through, saying that her coach lied to her about his ranking. She added that he would also touch her inappropriately during tournaments.

"In September 2009, I started training in Borgaro Turin. He convinced me that he was 350 in the ATP rankings. I discovered years later that it wasn't true."

"He would pick me up at home to go to training and then he would take me back. He stopped for dinner. He also showed up at my house on Sundays. He manipulated me by telling me: I do everything for you. It was during tournaments abroad, when we were in the room alone, that he would touch my breasts and butt," she said.

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Giulia Pairone - "I hope one day nobody has to go through what I've gone through"

2013 Australian Open Junior Championships

Giulia Pairone recently gave an interview to Sack The Stigma, where she talked about her ordeal in detail. She said it was important for survivors to know that they were not alone.

She acknowledged that many things needed a change in sports so that such instances do not occur. The 28-year-old also hoped that such things would not happen in the future.

"I also want to acknowledge that this is a problem in sports and I want my story to provide change. It is a great thing to play sports, it’s been a big part of my life and I still continue to do it, but with sports, there is a lot of hurt and a lot of violence. There are a lot of things that need to be changed in sports. I hope one day nobody has to go through what I’ve gone through and what so many others have gone through," Pairone said.

Giulia Pairone achieved her highest ranking of 666 in 2013. She last played qualifying matches at the ITF Torino tournament in 2018.