ITIA hands provisional suspension to US tennis player over match fixing

As of 11 April, El Mihdawy is prohibited from playing in or attending any tennis event authorised or sanctioned by any international tennis governing body or national association until the full disciplinary process is completed. 

The ITIA did not go into further detail about the match fixing charges facing the player, but it did state that the provisional suspension was issued under section F.3 of the 2022 Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme.

This clause permits the ITIA to suspend a player or other covered person before a notice of major offence has been issued, prior to a hearing or at any time after a hearing but before the issuance of a written decision.

El Mihdawy is currently 804 in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world singles rankings and has a career-high ranking of 281.

This marked the first sanction issued by the ITIA since January, when Peru’s Mauricio Echazu was banned for two years and three months after he was found to have breached a number of rules of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme (TACP).

Also in January, Argentinian tennis player Nicolás Arreche was banned for four years after he was found guilty of match-fixing.