SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The Association of Tennis Professionals (The ATP) have sanctioned a life time ban and a fine of (US) $60,000 on Russian Tennis Player Sergei Krotiouk, after the player was found guilty of match fixing by the The Tennis Integrity Unit, the anti-corruption and match fixing investigative body for the sport of tennis.
The unit found Sergei Krotiouk guilty of trying to influence negatively the outcome of tennis matches he was involved in by sabotaging his efforts during play in order to win outside monetary/financial gains. The ban is to be carried out immediately by the The ATP and will see Krotiouk non eligible to play in both ATP event or ATP challenger/ tour qualifiers. Krotiouk, 34, is ranked 789th by the ATP World Tour, the player has spent the majority of his career playing in ATP Challenger and Futures circuits to gain entry into bigger ATP tennis events.
The Tennis Integrity Unit is a joint initiative of the Grand Slam Committee, the International Tennis Federation, the ATP World Tour and the women’s WTA Tour. The Tennis Integrity Unit have also managed to sanction Serbia’s David Savic, who had a career-high ranking of 363, and Austria’s Daniel Koellerer, who reached the third round of the U.S. Open in 2009 with lifetime bans for match fixing.
The Unit has not been without its critics, as suspicion of corruption has grown within the sports circles, and there have been question marks about whether the Tennis Integrity Unit has the appropriate resources to handle tennis match fixing and game corruption. Critics say the unit, funded by the sport’s governing bodies — the ATP, WTA and ITF — plus the four ‘Grand Slam’ events, is being run on limited resources and cannot do a proper job of eradicating corruption.
UK newspapers have featured this story on tennis match fixing amongst fears of match fixing in tennis in the build up to this years Wimbledon Tennis championship!
