Tennis Integrity Unit bans players for betting, match-fixing

The Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) has said that it banned nine professional players for either betting or match-fixing activities in 2017.

In total, 13 players were sanctioned during the past 12 months, with five of these banned for match-fixing and a further four for betting.

The amount represents an increase on the nine players and officials that were banned in 2016.

Romania’s Alexandru-Daniel Carpen, Konstantinos Mikos of Greece and Japan’s Junn Mitsuhashi were all handed lifetime bans after being found guilty of match-fixing.

Nikita Kryvonos of the US and Australian Nick Lindahl were also banned for 10 and seven years, respectively, for match-fixing activities.

Meanwhile, in terms of betting activity, Romanian Mihaita Damian was given a 12-month ban and Australian Calum Puttergill a six-month ban, while Spain’s Samuel Ribeiro Navarette and Romania’s Marius Frosa were both issued with eight-month bans.

TIU director Nigel Willerton said: “There is no doubt that most players and officials conduct themselves in an exemplary fashion, but the small minority who choose to break the rules are a continuing concern.”

However, despite the increase in the overall number of banning orders, the TIU revealed that the number of match alerts for suspicious betting patterns fell from 292 in 2016 to 241 in 2017.

Related article: Wimbledon matches flagged over suspicious betting