A former tennis player and an inactive official have both admitted to betting on tennis
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) found former Slovenian tennis player David Gorsic and Steven Nguyen, an inactive Australian national-level official who officiated ITF junior, wheelchair, and W25 events, in violation of offenses under the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP). They have been assessed six and three-month sanctions and fines, respectively.
Gorsic received heavier sanctions and fines after admitting to placing wagers on tennis between 2017 and 2018. He played in singles matchups through November 2017. He’s dealt a six-month sanction, including a three-month suspension, and fined $5,000.
Gorsic's career-high singles ranking was 1399 in 2015.
Nguyen received the same punishment, just with lesser time and fines, after admitting to placing bets on tennis matches between 2021 and 2023. He’s sanctioned for three months and fined $2,000.
Purging tennis corruption
Gorsic and Nguyen are the latest individuals in a recent string of penalties dealt by ITIA across the leagues it safeguards, including the ATP, ITF, WTA, Tennis Australia, Fédération Française de Tennis, Wimbledon, and USA.
In April, Bulgarian tennis official Pabel Atanasov was given a lifetime ban for 21 breaches of the TACP between 2019 and 2023. French tennis player Leny Mitjana received a 10-year suspension and a $20,000 fine for fixing matches when he ranked inside the top 500 in 2018.
Slovenian official Marko Ducman received another 10-year suspension back in November after admitting to match-fixing and data manipulation. Ducman is banned from attending and working any tournaments under the ITIA umbrella for at least a decade, along with a $75,000 fine.
Finally, former tennis player, James Blake, who currently is the Miami Open tournament director, was fined $56,250 for breaching tennis’ betting sponsorship rules in February. ITIA states that he unintentionally violated TACP guidelines by promoting tennis betting, resulting in a suspended fine of $131,250 and a suspended ban of 18 months.
