Match-Fixing in ITF Futures

Monastir, Tunisia hosts ITF Futures events nearly every week of the year for young professionals kickstarting their careers. With the all-inclusive resort and tennis courts in the same facility, it provides an efficient place to begin getting experience with world-class competition. Like other professional sports, tennis at this level can be gambled on regardless of the location. Although players aren’t often concerned about sports betting, it can still infiltrate the integrity of the sport. We often don’t see corruption until journalist bring light to it following suspensions, however I recently heard firsthand about an ongoing investigation into potential corruption from a new Moroccan friend. For the sake of his confidentiality, I will refrain from mentioning his name, however the details are provoking.

During competition one week over the last summer, he was approached by a close friend he had known for years of playing tournaments. On a phone call, his friend was sobbing begging for some financial help as he and his family were struggling. His friend asked if he would be willing to intentionally lose a match, he was scheduled to play that week to allow his friend to cash in on a sports bet. Considering his friends’ financial and emotional struggles, he agreed and lost the match intentionally, allowing his friend to earn profit from his bet. Later that week, he heard from his friend again with a different tone in his messages… His friend began threatening him with blackmail, saying things like, “if you don’t send me thousands of Euros, I will contact the ITIA (International Tennis Integrity Agency) and notify them of your intentional match-fixing.” My friend felt in the moment he couldn’t risk his professional tennis career and reputation and obliged to paying the man.

Now the mistakes were compounding and my friend continued to dig himself deeper into a hole both financially and emotionally as he continued to play in professional tournaments each week. The burden of these threats took a toll on his mental health as the man persisted with more threats to come forward to the ITIA with the corruption from his match. Again and again, he paid the man with hopes to satisfy him and prevent him from coming forward to the integrity agency once and for all.

A few weeks passed and things had become quiet, until the ITIA arrived in Monastir to investigate potential match-fixing. Immediately following one of his matches, the ITIA officials pulled him aside into a room in the resort for questioning. My friend was confined to the room for hours on end, still exhausted from his previous match as they prodded him with questions. They used leveraging tactics like saying a potential suspension could be reduced from eight years to one year if he came clean and told them what truly transpired. After six hours of questioning and his back against the wall, my friend made the choice to tell them the truth in hopes to reduce his penalty. He told them exactly what happened, making it clear that he didn’t profit from the match-fixing and in addition, his friend blackmailed him into paying more money to prevent him from coming forward with information to the ITIA. They finally let him return to his hotel room, but with the warning that his case would be ongoing, and penalties would be upcoming.

Now hindsight would suggest he should’ve deleted all contact with his friend who was attempting to blackmail him for cash, but now that the ITIA was involved, things have gotten serious. As one of the best Moroccan tennis players from a young age, my friend had a legacy back home and allegations of match-fixing would tarnish his reputation and his family’s name. In addition, his sponsors would drop him following a suspension with the potential to financially end his tennis career. My friend remains anxious about his future and awaits the decision of the ITIA to determine the extent of his punishment. For now, he continues to grind futures tournaments in Monastir and Heraklion, Greece until his future is decided.