ITIA - tiu briefing note april june 2019

New TIU Chief Executive Officer position approved; Board also supports additional investigative and intelligence officer recruitment

The first meeting of the Tennis Integrity Unit Supervisory Board during Roland Garros in June approved further substantial investment in TIU staffing. A newly created position of Chief Executive Officer was approved, with responsibility for leading the development of the organisation and establishing it as an independent legal and operational entity. The international recruitment process for the role will be carried out by SRI, an independent external consultancy reporting to an appointments committee led by Board Chair, Jennie Price. That process is now in place and an appointment is anticipated for autumn 2019. A request for additional operational staff by TIU management was also approved, which will see two further investigators and two intelligence analysts recruited to manage an increasing workload. The five new positions will take overall staff numbers up to 21, which represents a more than threefold increase since 2016.

TIU Education Update

During the second quarter of 2019 the TIU’s dedicated Education team continued to deliver anti-corruption education and training across all levels of the sport, with activities including:

all tournament officials for Roland Garros and Wimbledon completed the online Tennis Integrity Protection Programme (TIPP) and received pre-tournament briefings
tournament staff across all LTA summer series events and Wimbledon completed TIPP
in-person education updates were delivered to all ATP Tournament Directors
face-to-face sessions held with players ranked 150-1500 and juniors ranked in the top 200
presentation delivered to the ITF level 3 school, Hamburg, Germany
new education module launched as part of the ITF Academy's 'Ethics in Coaching' course
production and distribution of new awareness raising posters for tournaments
updated Education section of the TIU website, with new resources including an FAQ section and updates to TIPP

TIU Match Alerts April to June 2019

Between April and June 2019 the TIU received a total of 33 match alerts through its confidential Memorandums of Understanding with the regulated betting industry. 32 of the 33 alerts came from the lower level ITF World Tour and ATP Challenger circuits. No alerts were received from either Roland Garros or Wimbledon. Both the quarterly figure of 33 alerts and the January to June half year 2019 total of 54 alerts are the lowest recorded since 2015, the first year for which match alert data was made publicly available. By comparison, there were 86 alerts for the second quarter in 2018 and 124 for the January to June six-month period.

More data over a longer period of time will be required to confirm consistent trends in betting alerts, but a number of factors are regarded as contributing to the lower figures so far in 2019, including:

the reduced number of matches played on the ITF World Tour to date in 2019 compared to 2018 (19,743 April to June 2019 v 24,611 over the same period in 2018)
the deterrent effect of police investigations and arrests in Europe, initiated by information provided by the TIU
continued close co-operation between the TIU and the regulated betting sector

TIU Match Alerts April to June 2019

Total Match Alerts

Grand Slam

ATP Tour

WTA Tour

ATP Challenger

ITF WTT Men

$15k

ITF WTT Men

$25k

ITF WTT Women

$15k

ITF WTT Women

$25k

Hopman, Davis, Fed Cups

TIU match alert policy

every alert reported to the TIU is recorded, assessed and followed up as an indicator that something inappropriate may have happened. It is important to appreciate that an alert on its own is not evidence of match-fixing;
there are many reasons other than corrupt activity that can explain unusual betting patterns, such as incorrect odds-setting; well-informed betting; player fitness, fatigue and form; playing conditions and personal circumstances;
where analysis of a match alert does suggest corrupt activity, the TIU will conduct a full, confidential investigation.

Disciplinary Sanctions April to June 2019

Between April and June 2019 eleven individuals were subject to disciplinary sanctions for breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program; Joao Souza, Benjamin D’Hoe, Mohamed Safwat, Issam Taweel, Henry Atseye, Miguel Tobon, Svetlana Teryaeva, Helen Ploskina, Osman Torski, Karen Khachatryan and Yuri Khachatryan. Please note that these sanctions have previously been announced by the TIU and are included here as a retrospective record:

Published 19 July 2019 12:00

TIU Briefing Note April-June 2019