TOP Jamaican player Dustin Brown tried to discredit the president of the local tennis association, Philip Gore, by complaining to the administration of the Tennis Hall of Fame, Tennis Jamaica’s Christine Gore has asserted.

The world No 141-ranked Brown, who is of German and Jamaican parentage, has been at the centre of a maelstrom of controversies in recent times.

He accused Tennis Jamaica of not offering him financial support which would enable him to be competitive on the world stage, and accused the local federation of neglect.

Brown has been quoted in articles published locally and overseas, and has been on the local airwaves airing his grouses.

“I am the number one (tennis player) in my country, probably the best player Jamaica ever had, but I have no support from the tennis federation in my country, which is kind of sad.

“Also, people in Jamaica basically don’t know how I am doing. I actually called my dad, who is in Jamaica, and told him that I won today, because it’s not going to be printed there in the newspapers,” Brown was quoted by ESPNstar.com in an article published on January 3 this year.

However, Gore said when Brown approached the local body for support, he demanded that national tennis director Douglas Burke be fired and has since compounded the issue by taking his complaints to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

“We’re not going to fire Dougie Burke. Burke is like a national hero and we surely would not be going to fire Dougie at his (Brown’s) behest,” stated a vehement Gore.

She explained that the Hall of Fame gives Tennis Jamaica a wild card entry to its Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tournament “out of respect for the president”.

“Our president can handle himself, but what Dustin did was to jeopardise the opportunities that exist for other players,” Gore said.

“A wild card straight into an ATP tournament is invaluable and Dustin found it necessary to try to put this in jeopardy for his own benefit,” she said.

Gore added that the ball was now in Brown’s court, though the player might find it a challenge.

“I don’t know how he is going to come back from that.”

She said Brown, who last represented Jamaica in 2003, would need to apologise in as public a manner as when he tried to defame the parties involved.

“It’s very simple,” she stated.