Dutch Tennis Coach Max Wenders Banned by ITIA for 12 Years

With the rising popularity of tennis, corruption cases in the game have seen a rise in recent years. ITIA (International Tennis Integrity Agency) has recently sanctioned tennis players, coaches, and also umpires for fixing matches this year.

In yet another case, a popular tennis coach from the Netherlands, Max Wenders, has received a ban of 12 years. ITIA found him guilty of multiple match-fixing charges, destroying evidence, and also for failing to report a corrupt approach.

Here’s a detailed report of the charges pressed on him.

Charges on Max Wenders

The ITIA said on Wednesday that the Dutch has accepted the charges and is going to get a ban of 12 years. Notably, the ruling came way back in April 2021, however; the news was made public after over a year because of the submissions from Wender’s legal team. The ruling also slapped Wenders with a fine of $12000.

As per the ruling, Wenders can not play, train or even attend any tennis match for 12 years from the date of the ruling.

Following (among others) are the rules that he has breached.

Section D.2.b.ii of the 2019 TACP: Failing to report a corrupt approach

Section F.2.b of the 2019 TACP: Destroying evidence.

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Wenders has been associated with many WTA players in the past. And was also in a romantic relationship with the American tennis player Sofia Kenin.

Other recent cases of corruption in tennis

The ITIA has been working hard to find out the corrupt elements in the circuit. Recently, they found three Tunisian umpires guilty of match-fixing. The charges on Majd Affi, Mohamed Ghassan, and Abderahim Gharsallah, state that all three of them tampered with the scoring device to deliberately feed the wrong scores in the matches.

Further, two top 50 players, Aslan Karatsev and Nikoloz Basilashvili have received allegations of fixing matches along with their coach Yahor Yatysk.

As per an investigation from ZDF Germany, the coach approached both the players for fixing. Allegedly, coach Yatysk was always in search of talented tennis players who needed money.

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It is nice to see the culprits getting the punishments. Such incidents not only tarnish the reputation of the game but also affect the fans who admire the game.