The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has sanctioned French tennis player Leny Mitjana for breaching the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP).
Mitjana was recently found guilty as part of a match-fixing syndicate that led to the arrest of prominent ringleader Grigor Sargsyan - an Armenian immigrant who lived in Belgium - and hefty suspensions of five tennis players with close links to him last November.
Mitjana, who attained a career-high ranking of World No. 458 in 2018, contested charges brought to him related to fixing tennis matches in 2017 and 2018. He stood before an independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer (AHO) on November 8th, 2023.
The AHO by the name Phillipe Cavalieros found him liable for breaching up to four sections of the TACP, which included faciliation of wagers, pre-planning the outcomes of matches, influencing palyers not committ their best efforts and failure to whistle blow on corruption approches.
The ITIA's announcement documented Mitjana's breaches reaching double figures, and he was fined $20,000 in addition to a whopping ten-year suspension from the sport. The suspension will count from the date of the decision (December 22nd, 2023) and run till December 21st, 2033.
Just to show the severity of the repercussions, as he serves the ban, Mitjana will be barred from playing, coaching, or attending any tennis event authorized by the members of the ITIA, and these include the ATP, WTA, ITF, and the four bodies housing the Grand Slams.
The last time he played professionally was in February 2023, and he will now begin the countdown to a decade of staying out of the sport. And at 29, this lengthy suspension will virtually end his playing career.
The ITIA does a commendable job in eradicating cases of match-fixing and doping and takes breaches of rules instituted to protect the integrity of the sport very seriously, and not even the top-level players have been spared in the case of violations of the anti-doping rules like Simona Halep and retired Swede Mikael Ymer.
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