ITIA bans French tennis player for match fixing

Mitjana was ruled to have breached the ITIA Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme (TACP) 11 times. His ban from tennis runs until December 2033.

The Frenchman, who held a career-high world singles ranking of 458 in 2018, denied all the charges. All charges related to the fixing of matches and the offences took place in 2017 and 2018.

Mitjana was found in breach of sections D.1.b, D.1.d, D.1.e and D.2.a.i of the TACP. These include facilitating wagering, contriving the outcome of matches, influencing other players not to use their best efforts and failing to report corrupt approaches.

The ban is effective from the actual date of the decision (22 December 2023). This means Mitjana cannot play in, coach at or attend any professional tennis event until 21 December 2033.

This covers all events authorised or sanctioned by the members of the ITIA or any national association.

Another case linked to Belgian tennis match-fixing syndicate

The case is the latest to be linked to a recently concluded criminal case involving a match-fixing syndicate in Belgium. 

Syndicate leader Grigor Sargsyan was recently convicted and handed a five-year custodial sentence. This followed a joint effort between the ITIA and Belgian authorities.

Sargsyan has reportedly traversed the globe since 2018 to build a network of over 180 tennis players across five continents. The Washington Post described him as “the man who built the biggest match-fixing ring in tennis”.

In total, the ITIA has now banned 21 players and officials in the last three months.

The crackdown began following Sargsyan’s conviction in November, which saw an initial 16 players banned in November 2023, as reported by iGaming Business, first on the on 13 November, then on 17 November and on 24 November.