Brazil’s Matos handed lifetime tennis ban for match fixing
Brazilian professional tennis player Diego Matos has been handed a lifetime ban from the sport after being convicted of multiple match-fixing offences.
The 31-year-old, who had been ranked 373th in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings, has also been fined $125,000 (£101,421/€113,344) and ordered to repay winnings of $12,000 for match fixing linked to tournaments in Ecuador.
Independent anti-corruption hearing officer, Richard McLaren, found Matos had manipulated the outcome of 10 matches played during 2018 at International Tennis Federation tournaments in Brazil, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Portugal and Spain.
Matos was also found guilty of not co-operating with a Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) investigation on the case, having failed to supply financial records and his mobile phone for forensic examination.
Specifically, Matos was found to have breached Section D.1.d and Section D.2.c of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program.
Section D.1.d states that no covered person shall, directly or indirectly, contrive or attempt to contrive the outcome or any other aspect of an event, while section D.2.c refers to corruption offences.
The Brazilian was provisionally suspended from tennis on December 6 last year 2018 pending the TIU disciplinary case, but the latest ruling will mean that he can no longer compete in or attend sanctioned events organised or recognised by the governing bodies of tennis.
Matos had a career-best ranking of 241 in doubles in December 2018, while as a singles player, his highest ranking was 580 in April 2012.