Sports federations and authorities across the globe fear for the integrity of sports amid the growing expansion of betting activities. Besides match-fixing, gambling activities may also impact the lives of professional athletes with threats and hateful messages being posted on social media by angered punters.
Tasked with safeguarding, encouraging and enhancing the integrity of professional tennis worldwide, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), constantly monitors the sport. The regulatory body enforces tough penalties against tennis officials and athletes involved in unlawful activities.
On Thursday, the ITIA confirmed it imposed a sanction against one tennis umpire from Slovenia. ITIA’s sanction is against Marko Ducman, a Slovenian international-level tennis official. According to the Agency, the umpire admitted to breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP) related to gambling.
A statement released by the ITIA confirms that Ducman admitted to a total of four TACP breaches. The violations relate to wagering on tennis matches. Moreover, the Slovenian bronze badge official admitted to manipulating data from matches they officiated and engaged in wagering.
Throughout his career, Ducman officiated at WTA, ATP and ITF tournaments. Due to the aforementioned breaches, he was banned from the sport for 10 years and six months. Ducman was provisionally suspended on September 8, 2023. The ITIA explained that his time under provisional suspension will be credited against the period of the ban. This otherwise means that the umpire’s suspension from the sport will end on March 7, 2034.
The Slovenian Umpire Received a Fine in Addition to the Ban
Besides the 10-year suspension, the ITIA fined Ducman $75,000 with $56,250 suspended. According to the watchdog, the Slovenian tennis official agreed to cooperate fully with its investigation and “accepted an agreed sanction,” effectively waiving his right to a hearing before an independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer.
Similar to other bans imposed by the ITIA, the umpire won’t be allowed to officiate at any tennis event sanctioned by the governing bodies of tennis. Additionally, the suspension effectively prohibits him from attending such events as well.
The latest sanction comes after back in September, ITIA provisionally suspended French player Maxence Broville. At the time of the announcement, the Agency confirmed the player failed to comply with one of its demands. Moreover, the ITIA did not rule out the possibility of Broville breaching the TACP rules.
Earlier in the year, ITIA banned for life the French tennis professional player, Alexis Musialek, due to breaches related to match-fixing. Upon announcing the sanction, the watchdog said that it uncovered a total of 39 breaches of the TACP rules.