Match-fixing often hits the lower tiers of professional tennis, where tournament prize money doesn’t matter and players tend to “juggle” to bank their careers. But the latest case of this sports scam has shaken the ATP circuit in recent days, the most important in the world of racketeering, because it involves two prominent players classified in the top 40, the Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili and Russian Aslan Karatsev.

According to a report by ZDFa German public television channel, these two players and their former coach, the Belarusian Yahor Yatsikare being investigated by the International Agency for the Integrity of Tennis (ITIA) suspected of having adjusted the outcome of matches several times in the past.

Basilashvili, number 25 in the world, worked with Yatsyk for about 18 months in 2013. Meanwhile, Karatsev, 40th in the world rankings, did so between 2018 and 2021. The Belarusian coach would offer both money for lose games.

According to ITIA files, made available on German television, Karatsev is under scrutiny for five losing games that have seen unusually high betting moves. Two of those duels were played during his partnership with Yatsyk, both in doubles tournaments in challenger-tour: in the first round of Tampere, Finland, in July 2019, and in the quarter-finals of Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan, in March 2020.

The two cases occurred when the Russian was still far from the top 100 of the single – he was 331th in the first and 263th in the second – and had not yet made the big leap in his career, which took place after his surprising arrival in the semifinal of l ‘ Australian Open last year, after passing the qualification, which allowed him to enter the top 50 in the world for the first time.

Although ZDF claimed that Karatsev had also manipulated the result of the first round doubles match of the Stuttgart ATP last year, in which, together with the Israeli Jonathan Erlichfell 6-4 and 6-0 against the Indian Rohan Bopanna and the Canadian Denis Shapovalov. Bets too high for his defeat were also recorded in that match.

Tom MaceDirector of Operations sports radarthe controlling company that oversees the betting market for the ITF, acknowledged in a chat with ZDF that it monitored Karatsev’s matches, although due to the nature of his contract with the international federation, I cannot provide details on the results. .

Karatsev and Yatsyk were interrogated by French police during the 2020 edition of Roland Garros, as reported by the newspaper at the time L’Equipe.

The manager had been linked to match-fixing in a player-focused investigation Ksenia Palkinafrom Kyrgyzstan, e Albina Khabibulina, from Uzbekistan. The former was suspended for 16 years and the latter banned from tennis for life.

The Uzbek was the one who confessed to having been contacted via Facebook by a former tennis player, later identified as Yatsyk. She said that at first she didn’t answer him because she “had a reputation for bribing players for money”, but in the end she did.

During his interrogation in Paris, Yatsyk acknowledged that he knew the players in question, but assured he had not communicated with them for years; and he denied involvement with tennis betting. Karatsev, meanwhile, said he never tried to bribe anyone and was subsequently released, with no charges filed against him. Player and manager broke the professional bond at the end of 2021, without explaining the reason for that decision.

Basilashvili would instead be investigated for the double lost in the first round of Wimbledon last year, paired with the Moldovan Radu Albot, according to Russian media. The Georgian, 25th in the singles standings and holder of five singles titles, and his teammates fell 6-3, 2-6, 2-6 against the Italian Stefano Travaglia and Hungarian Martin Fucsovic.

The ZDF channel has ensured that several bookmakers have confirmed that there have been atypical movements in bets in favor of defeat, with figures that have even reached half a million dollars.

Contacted by German television, the ITF declined to comment on the matter; Karatsev granted an interview to that medium, but later retracted his statements; and from Basilashvili’s entourage they assured that they have not yet received any notification from the ITIA about the trial.

ZDF, on the other hand, published the testimony of an Eastern European coach, who preferred to remain anonymous, and who described Yatsyk’s “modus operandi”.

“He always has a lot of money with him, is on tour and is looking for young players or players with financial or mental problems, which he can easily convince with money,” said the manager. “Yatsyk worked closely with both players (Karatsev and Basilashvili), he watched them for years. They are both incredibly talented tennis players. But they had financial problems in the beginning and also important stages of poor performance, which made them. in any case, drop came close to them at a critical moment in their career.