Tennis Coach Banned After 64 Match Fixing Offences in ATP

The sport of tennis is widely considered to be among the most popular sports in the entire world. When a sport becomes more popular, it is more likely to get tainted by unethical behavior and corrupt practices. 

Tennis’s governing bodies are putting in a lot of effort to investigate these kinds of allegations and take appropriate disciplinary action against those responsible. Earlier, a Chilean tennis coach was banned from the sport for life because of his involvement in match-fixing offenses.

Tennis coach Sebastian Rivera gets a ban for life

Sebastian Rivera, the former Chilean player and tennis coach, is now banned for life. He was involved in record 64 match-fixing offenses. It was certified by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) that this was the highest number ever found by a player.

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According to the ITIA, Rivera, now 36 years old, failed to engage effectively with the investigative hearing. In addition, a $250k penalty was also imposed on him. And as a result of the ruling, Rivera will be permanently barred from coaching, competing, or even attending any tennis tournament recognized or sanctioned by the governing bodies of tennis.

Speaking about his career, he has won 115 of his 218 matches while competing as a player. He reached 705 in the ATP rankings in the year 2009, which is his career best. However, he has not competed as a player on the professional circuit since 2017.

The case of umpires getting banned

Previously, a report claimed that the International Tennis and Intercollegiate Association (ITIA) had sanctioned three Tunisian umpires of the lower level for match-fixing. The most notable aspect of this was that they purposefully entered incorrect scores during the contests.

The ITIA announced that Majd Affi would be subjected to a ban for a period of twenty years. Affi was determined to be responsible for 12 separate offenses relating to incidents that occurred between 2017 and 2020.

In addition, Mohamed Ghassen Snene and Abderahim Gharsallah were subjected to a ban that would last for seven years. They were found guilty of all four accusations brought against them in connection with the events in Tunisia two years ago.

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Even while the popularity of tennis continues to rise, occurrences like this are undeniably damaging to the sport. Because of this, the careers of a great number of young aspiring tennis players are put in jeopardy, which undermines not only their integrity but also their performance.