Active French player provisionally suspended pending anti-corruption charges

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The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) have confirmed that French tennis player Maxence Broville has been provisionally suspended from the sport.

The suspension comes pending the full consideration of Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP) charges according to an ITIA statement.

The ITIA, the independent body established by the Governing Bodies of Tennis to promote, encourage, enhance and safeguard the integrity of professional tennis worldwide has indicated that the charges that will be raised against Broville carry heavy punishments.

Broville was advised that his suspension took effect from 20 June 2023.

The suspension prohibits Broville from competing in or attending any sanctioned tennis events organised by the governing bodies of the sport.

According to an ITIA sanction notice, Broville’s provisional suspension was imposed under Sections F.3.b.i.1 and F.3.b.i.4 of the TACP.

Those sections relate to circumstances where the player’s continued presence on the Tours is considered to be potentially far worse than any impact to the suspended player, implying that Broville has committed very serious offences indeed.

Said sections read:

F.3.b.i.1:

‘The Covered Person has failed to comply with a Demand.’

F.3.b.i.4:

‘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.’

Broville lodged an appeal against the imposition of the provisional suspension, but his appeal was dismissed by an independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer on 5 September 2023.

The 24-year-old Frenchman peaked as the world No 708 earlier this year prior to being hit with a provisional suspension.

Broville’s suspension comes just one month after three other players were provisionally suspended. Then, Timur Khabibulin, Sanjar Fayziev and Igor Smilansky were ordered away from the court.

That decision was made by independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer (AHO) Janie Soublière, who upheld the ITIA charges against the three players for ‘related match-fixing activity’.

Fayziev, from Uzbekistan, and Smilansky, from Israel, were found to have committed five and three breaches of the TACP following a corrupt approach from Khabibulin.

The players were collectively found to have contrived aspects of matches, facilitated wagering, failed to report corrupt approaches, and, in Khabibulin’s case, offered money to negatively influence players’ best efforts.

Khabibulin reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of 753 in 2016, Fayziev reached a career peak of 253 in 2017, and Smilansky 451 in 2018.

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Maxence Broville

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