By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Thursday, February 9, 2023
The king of match fixing has been bounced out of tennis for life.
Younes Rachidi, who committed the most match-fixing offenses ever detected, has been banned from the sport for life for chronic corruption, the International Tennis Integrity Agency announced today.
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The former Moroccan player was found guilty of 135 match fixing offenses.
“This is now the highest number of offenses by one individual ever detected by the ITIA or its predecessor the Tennis Integrity Unit,” the ITIA said in a statement.
The lifetime ban means that Rachidi, who achieved a career-high ATP doubles ranking of No. 473, is permanently prohibited from playing in, coaching at or attending any tennis event authorized or sanctioned by the governing bodies of tennis.
If Rachidi was betting on beating the charges, it was a career-ending gamble.
The case was ruled on by independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Office Janie Soublière who rule all charges proved against Rachidi, the 135 breaches “egregious” and imposed a fine of $34,000 in addition to the life ban.
Rachidi was involved in match fixing with two Algerian players recently banned by the ITIA with the cases uncovered following law enforcement investigations in conjunction with the ITIA in Belgium.
In the earlier case, Mohamed Hassan was banned for life and Houria Boukholda was banned for two years (with 18 months of that ban suspended) for match-fixing offenses, the International Tennis Integrity Agency announced.
The Algerian pair committed multiple match-fixing offenses dating back to 2016.
In addition to the bans, Hassan was fined $12,100 and Boukholda fined $10,000 (with $9,000 suspended).
The 27-year-old Hassan, who had a highest ATP ranking of 1476 was found guilty of 29 offenses relating to seven matches between 2016 and 2018.
The 20-year-old Boukholda was found guilty of 15 offenses relating to five matches in 2017 and 2018. Due to Boukholda’s age and inexperience at the time of the offenses, it was determined that the player was influenced by Hassan and was therefore given a more lenient sanction.
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve
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