Two Top 50 players Karatsev and Basilashvili and their coach accused of match fixing
ATP
Aslan Karatsev and Nikoloz Basilashvili won multiple titles over the years, but it seems that their careers may be shadowed by match-fixing.
In 2021, Aslan Karatsev enjoyed a meteoric rise when he climbed to the 14th place in the ATP Rankings and showed very solid performances. Yet, many fans focused on his ATP Challenger Tour career and the fact that he appeared to be tanking some of the matches.
According to the recent reports, it seems that the claims might have been truthful as the 28-year-old Russian and his colleague Nikoloz Basilashvili were both accused of match-fixing.
According to a report by German broadcaster ZDF, at least twice in the past, Belarusian coach Yahor Yatsik, who coached both, paid them to fix the outcome of their matches.
This should be obvious from the investigative materials of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) that ZDF got access to. Yatsik served as Karatsev's coach from 2018 until 2021. Prior to that, starting in 2013, Basilashvilli traveled with the Belarusian coach for almost 18 months.
One of the coaches who wanted to remain anonymous confirmed the match-fixing allegations to ZDF.
"He has been involved in betting fraud for years, works with people involved in match fixing in Russia and Eastern Europe. He always has a lot of money with him, is on the tour and is looking for young players who have problems. Financial or mental. Which he can easily convince with money."
"Yatsik worked closely with both players, watched them for years. They are both incredibly talented players. But they had financial problems at the beginning and also major periods of weakness, slips in the ranking. At a critical moment in their career, he addressed them."
ZDF also claims that Karatsev was most recently involved in a match-fixing at the Stuttgart Open. Karatsev played with Jonathan Erlich in the first round, and the two took on Denis Shapovalov and Rohan Bopanna. The Russian and his doubles partner lost the match 4-6, 0-6.
