defensive4
Rookie
New York - Andy Murray's new coach Brad Gilbert will have more on his mind that his player's first-round match at the US Open after receiving news of a suit filed against him by his own management agency on Monday.
Gilbert, details of whose lucrative 4.55-million dollar, 3.5-year deal with Britain's Lawn Tennis Association have now been laid bare in the August 24 document lodged Monday with the New York Supreme Court, is accused of failing to pay management commissions due.
Creative Sports & Entertainment, whose president David Bagliebter is said in the suit to be a 20-year friend and manager of the highly rated coach, is suing Gilbert, 45, for 788,000 dollars in what the company claims are fees of 15 percent not paid to them by Gilbert.
Creative says that Gilbert has breached terms of the original agreement signed on June 21, 2003, failing to give the company their share of gross monies from an ESPN television commentary contract dated April, 2005, which pays him 60,000 for each Grand Slam he covered plus bonus monies.
The agency charges that in July, Gilbert persuaded ESPN to start paying his fees into his own account instead of Creative's, preventing the agency from collecting its commission.
In addition, the suit alleges that Bagliebter and Creative, who did the original negotiation, were bypassed in the rich final agreement struck this summer between the coach and the LTA.
Gilbert has taken Murray to a final, semi-final and quarter-final since they began working together this month at the Washington event.
The Californian's contract with the LTA includes training British coaches and 'loans' him to the 19th-ranked Murray as a travelling coach on the circuit.
The contract, estimated in the press at 500,000 pounds (950,000 dollars) per year, is actually worth 1.3 million dollars per year for 3.5 years, according to the suit.
Gilbert, a former player whose coaching credentials also include stints with Andre Agassi and Andy Murray, has 20 days to respond.
The suit also cites other contracts not in dispute which it negotiated for Gilbert, with clients including Penguin books, Reebok, Cablevision, Tennis magazine, Wilson sporting goods and Nike/China.
Gilbert, details of whose lucrative 4.55-million dollar, 3.5-year deal with Britain's Lawn Tennis Association have now been laid bare in the August 24 document lodged Monday with the New York Supreme Court, is accused of failing to pay management commissions due.
Creative Sports & Entertainment, whose president David Bagliebter is said in the suit to be a 20-year friend and manager of the highly rated coach, is suing Gilbert, 45, for 788,000 dollars in what the company claims are fees of 15 percent not paid to them by Gilbert.
Creative says that Gilbert has breached terms of the original agreement signed on June 21, 2003, failing to give the company their share of gross monies from an ESPN television commentary contract dated April, 2005, which pays him 60,000 for each Grand Slam he covered plus bonus monies.
The agency charges that in July, Gilbert persuaded ESPN to start paying his fees into his own account instead of Creative's, preventing the agency from collecting its commission.
In addition, the suit alleges that Bagliebter and Creative, who did the original negotiation, were bypassed in the rich final agreement struck this summer between the coach and the LTA.
Gilbert has taken Murray to a final, semi-final and quarter-final since they began working together this month at the Washington event.
The Californian's contract with the LTA includes training British coaches and 'loans' him to the 19th-ranked Murray as a travelling coach on the circuit.
The contract, estimated in the press at 500,000 pounds (950,000 dollars) per year, is actually worth 1.3 million dollars per year for 3.5 years, according to the suit.
Gilbert, a former player whose coaching credentials also include stints with Andre Agassi and Andy Murray, has 20 days to respond.
The suit also cites other contracts not in dispute which it negotiated for Gilbert, with clients including Penguin books, Reebok, Cablevision, Tennis magazine, Wilson sporting goods and Nike/China.
