ITIA Quarterly Update - Q4 2023

An introduction from Karen Moorhouse, CEO of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA)

Detailed in this update are our final quarterly figures for 2023.

In the coming weeks, a complete, all-encompassing annual review for 2023 will be published – detailing more about the ITIA’s governance, financial reporting and strategy – alongside colleagues’ reflections on the past 12 months.

Below, you will find an update on sanctions and suspensions issued during Q4 2023, as well as key reporting data, including testing figures from our anti-doping programme and match alerts.

We look forward to expanding on these figures with further detail in our upcoming review.

Sanctions and Provisional Suspensions

The ITIA confirmed four sanctions under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme and 22 sanctions under the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Players sanctioned under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP)

Jenson Brooksby - 18 months

Victor Bini - 13 months

Stefano Battaglino - four years

Vladislav Ivanov - four years

Players sanctioned under the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP)

Timur Khabibulin – lifetime ban

Sanjar Fayziev – three years and six months

Igor Smilansky – two years

Arnaud Graisse – four years and 10 months

Arthur de Greef – three years and nine months

Julien Dubail – three years and nine months

Romain Barbosa – three years and nine months

Maxime Authom – three years and nine months

Omar Salman – two years and seven months

Alec Witmeur – two years and seven months

Alberto Rojas Maldonado – lifetime ban

Christopher Díaz Figueroa– lifetime ban

José Antonio Rodríguez Rodríguez – 12 years

Antonio Ruiz Rosales – ten years

Orlando Alcántara Rangel – two years

Leny Mitjana – ten years

Officials sanctioned under the TACP

Marko Ducman – ten years and six months

Edvinas Grigaitis – three years

Givi Khudoiani – 14 years

Arsen Movsisyan – five years

Manuel Sperger – seven years and six months

Stefan Milanov – 16 years

Match alerts

In the fourth quarter of 2023, the ITIA received a total of 20 match alerts through its confidential Memoranda of Understanding with the regulated betting industry.

A note about match alerts:

Every alert reported to the ITIA is recorded, assessed and followed up as an indicator that something inappropriate may have happened. It is important to note that an alert on its own is not evidence of match fixing.

Unusual betting patterns can occur for many reasons other than match fixing – for example incorrect odds-setting; well-informed betting; player fitness, fatigue or form; playing conditions and personal circumstances.

The number and distribution of alerts are reported quarterly. Care should be taken in drawing any conclusions about prevailing corruption across the tennis ‘pyramid’ as there are many more matches at the bottom than at the top. More complete analysis will be published in our annual report.

Where analysis of a match alert does suggest corrupt activity, the ITIA conducts a full, confidential investigation.

In addition, the ITIA considers intelligence from various sources, and encourages anyone with any concerns to contact the ITIA.

Tennis Anti-Doping Testing Programme – Q4 2023 testing figures

These figures outline the number of samples taken from players, not the number of tests (multiple samples e.g., urine and blood, can be taken from players when they are tested). All tests undertaken this quarter were with no notice.

The ITIA is responsible for the TADP across all professional tennis. Tests in Q4 of 2023 took place at events ranging from ITF $15k level to ATP/WTA 1000 and Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup events, with in and/or out of-competition testing undertaken in 44 different countries.

ABP = Athlete Biological Passport
DBS = Dry Blood Spot