3 September 2023 | Tennis West

Tennis West would like to reinforce a number of important facts in light of recent public commentary.

A base requirement of any CEO is to retain the confidence of their board. Once that is lost, the CEO’s position is no longer tenable.

The Tennis West Board took a vote of no confidence in CEO Brett Patten based on ongoing behaviours deemed to be unacceptable. Ultimately, this decision related to issues of compliance, governance, and a lack of respect and disregard for corporate process.

Far from exonerating him, the Tennis Australia Integrity Report into these significant matters reinforced existing concerns about Mr Patten’s general behaviour. These behaviours were entirely at odds with the values of the organisation and had the potential to bring the sport into disrepute.

While the Board was and remains comfortable that there were sufficient reasons to invoke the termination clause of Mr Patten’s contract, investigations are continuing in order to ascertain the full extent of the behaviour.

Tennis Australia has endorsed the Tennis West decision and backed the process.