The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), a body seeking to protect tennis from fraud and match manipulation, has confirmed that it has handed a provisional suspension to the French tennis player Maxence Broville. According to the announcement, the ITIA will consider the player’s recent Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP) charges.
The ITIA dated the suspension to June 20, 2023, temporarily prohibiting the athlete from competing in or attending any tennis event sanctioned by tennis governing bodies.
Providing more details about the suspension, the ITIA noted that Maxence Broville has failed to comply with a demand from the agency. In addition, the ITIA pointed out that Broville may have committed a major offense of the TACP.
As outlined in the TACP:
There is a likelihood that the Covered Person has committed a Major Offense and in the absence of a Provisional Suspension, the integrity of tennis would be undermined and the harm resulting from the absence of a Provisional Suspension outweighs the Hardship of the Provisional Suspension on the Covered Person.
TACP Section F.3.b.i.4
The ITIA added that Broville has tried to appeal against the imposition of the provisional suspension. However, an unidentified anti-corruption hearing officer rejected the appeal on September 5, 2023, the ITIA noted.
The ITIA Continues to Protect the Tennis Sector from Fraud
The ITIA is an independent body that seeks to protect the integrity of the tennis sector. A month ago, it imposed another sanction on another French player, namely Alexis Musialek. Musialek was banned for life because of serious and repeated violations of the TACP.
According to the ITIA, “the 35-year-old was found to have – among other offenses – contrived the outcome of multiple matches, received money, benefit or consideration for contriving the outcome of these matches.”
In early August, the ITIA banned 3 other players over similar breaches, namely Timur Khabibulin, Sanjar Fayziev and Igor Smilansky. The three conspired together and manipulated matches, committing varying TACP offenses.
A few days earlier, the watchdog also had to suspend Percy Flores, a tennis white badge umpire from Bolivia, who will be unable to participate in sanctioned games for 12 years.