NEWS
6 January 2022
Argentinian tennis player handed four-year ban for match-fixing
By Gambling Insider

Arreche, who had a career-high ATP singles ranking of 567, was found to have breached the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program rules on two counts, and has also been fined $8,000. The incidents took place at events between 2017 and 2019, and the player was found to have contrived, or attempted to contrive, the outcome of multiple tennis matches. He was also found guilty of a second offence, for failing to report corrupt approaches to the ITIA. 

Professor Richard McLaren, the independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer ruling over the case, passed a ruling prohibiting Arreche from playing in, or attending, any tennis event authorised or sanctioned by an international governing body. The ban stretches from the date of the player’s provisional suspension, which started on 24 April 2021, to 23 April 2025.  

This is the second such ruling handed down by the ITIA inside the past month, with Mexican tennis player Mauricio Astorga found guilty of similar match-fixing offences. He was handed a more lenient ruling, banning him from the sport for three years, and fining him $1,500.  

Tennis continues to occupy an unwanted spotlight over match-fixing scandals in recent years. Between 2018 and 2020, five players received bans for taking part in match-fixing activities, while former world number three Nikolay Davydenko was cleared of allegations against him back in 2008. 

On a wider scale, a total of 26,000 matches were the subject of an investigation in 2016 following claims of suspicious betting activities, at major tournaments such as Wimbledon, by Italian and Russian betting syndicates.