The Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) has sanctioned French ruling official David Rocher for betting on the sport and then failing to cooperate with those investigating the offenses. The line judge may not return to the sport for 18 months, or until February 2022. He was also fined $5,000 for betting on tennis matches; $4,000 of that amount was suspended.
Rocher admitted to placing 11 bets on matches that took place between January and October of 2019. His actions were in violation of the Tennis Anti-corruption Program (TACP) which states that people in his position may not “directly or indirectly wager on the outcome or any other aspect of any event or any other tennis competition.” He also breached a section that requires “all covered persons” to “cooperate fully with investigations conducted by the TIU.” Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer Ian Mill QC found Rocher guilty.
According to iGamingBusiness.com, Rocher is the latest on a list of people banned by the TIU in recent weeks. Two Bulgarian players, Karen and Yuri Khachatryan, received lifetime and 10-year bans respectively after being convicted of five cases of match-fixing, nine cases of soliciting other players not to use best efforts and a repeated failure to cooperate with the TIU’s investigation.
Another Bulgarian player, Aleksandrina Naydenova, was found guilty of taking part in match-fixing activities between 2015 and 2019 and given a lifetime ban. Spanish player Enrique López Pérez got an eight-year ban and a $25,000 fine after the TIU found him guilty of three separate match-fixing events in 2017. Ukrainian player Stanislav Poplavskyy was banned for match-fixing and “courtsiding” activities, and Britain’s George Kennedy was also banned for a total of seven months.
The TIU will become the International Tennis Integrity Agency on New Year’s Day.
