TIU Press Release, December 4, 2020

Ukrainian tennis player Stanislav Poplavskyy has been issued with a lifetime ban from the sport after an investigation by the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) found that he had partaken in match fixing and courtsiding activities on multiple occasions between 2015 and 2019.

Mr Poplavskyy who had a highest ATP ranking of 440, was also charged with and found guilty of facilitating courtsiding and a failure to report multiple approaches asking him to contrive matches.

Courtsiding is a prohibited practice which involves transmission of live scoring data from a match to a third party for betting purposes.

Mr Poplavskyy accepted all charges and Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer Richard McLaren issued a lifetime ban and a fine of $10,000 meaning that as from 1 December 2020, the player is permanently prohibited from playing in or attending any tennis event authorised or sanctioned by the governing bodies of tennis.

The breaches of the Tennis Anti-corruption Programme (TACP) that Mr Poplavskyy has been found guilty of are:

D.1.b: “No Covered Person shall, directly or indirectly, solicit or facilitate any other person to wager on the outcome or any other aspect of any Event or any other tennis competition. For the avoidance of doubt, to solicit or facilitate to wager shall include, but not be limited to: display of live tennis betting odds on a Covered Person website; writing articles for a tennis betting publication or website; conducting personal appearances for a tennis betting company or any other company or entity directly affiliated with a tennis betting company; and appearing in commercials encouraging others to bet on tennis.”

D.1.c: “No Covered Person shall, directly or indirectly, solicit or accept any money, benefit or Consideration for the provision of an accreditation to an Event (i) for the purpose of facilitating a commission of a Corruption Offense; or (ii) which leads, directly or indirectly, to the commission of a Corruption Offense.”

D.1.d: “No Covered Person shall, directly or indirectly, contrive or attempt to contrive the outcome or any other aspect of any Event.”

D.2.a.i: “In the event any Player is approached by any person who offers or provides any type of money, benefit or Consideration to a Player to (i) influence the outcome or any other aspect of any Event, or (ii) provide Inside Information, it shall be the Player’s obligation to report such incident to the TIU as soon as possible.”

D.2.a.ii. “In the event any Player knows or suspects that any other Covered Person or other individual has committed a Corruption Offense, it shall be the Player’s obligation to report such knowledge or suspicion to the TIU as soon as possible.”

The Tennis Integrity Unit is an initiative of the Grand Slam Board, the International Tennis Federation, the ATP and the WTA and established to promote, encourage, enhance and safeguard the integrity of professional tennis worldwide. From 1 January 2021, the TIU will become a new, independent body – the International Tennis Integrity Agency.