Greek tennis director suspended for betting breaches

Tournament director Antonis Kalaitzakis has been suspended for 20 months by the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) for breaching betting regulations.

Greece.- Antonis Kalaitzakis, a tournament director for the International Tennis Federation, has been suspended after admitting betting on tennis.

A Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) investigation found that he used several online betting accounts to place 127 bets on tennis between 2013 and 2016. He was also found to have failed to report knowledge or suspicion of third-party corruption to the TIU.

Independent anti-corruption hearing officer Jane Mulcahy QC ruled that Kalaitzakis had breached sections D.1.a and D.2.b.ii of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP).

The first bans direct or indirect betting or attempting to bet on the result of any tennis competition, while the latter obliges officials to report knowledge or suspicion of any other individual who may have committed an offence.

She suspended Kalaitzakis for 20 months and issued a fine of US$6,000 (€5,239). Four months of the suspension and half of the fine will be suspended on condition that no further breaches are committed.

Kalaitzakis will be prohibited from officiating in or attending any authorised tennis event during his suspension.

The TIU has said operators reported suspicious betting activity in 24 matches between April and June, when the majority of big competitions were suspended due to Covid-19.

It said the number of alerts during a period when most events were suspended showed match-fixing remained a major issue in tennis.

The regulator in New Jersey last week banned betting on Ukrainian table tennis due to match fixing concerns.