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The arrest of Russian tennis player Yana Sizikova on suspicion of a match-fixing investigation at the French Open has cast a shadow over a top event in the sport.
An official of the French Tennis Federation confirmed the arrest of the French police and said that the police are investigating.
The Paris prosecutor’s office told the Associated Press that a player was arrested on Thursday night for “behavior that may be carried out in September 2020”. A person with knowledge of the situation told the Financial Times that the allegations were related to match-fixing.
Sizikova’s lawyer Frederic Belot told Reuters that she was released on Friday.
In September last year, French prosecutors launched an investigation into the fraud and “active and passive corruption” of “organized groups” suspected of manipulating matches in the 2020 French Open women’s doubles match.
The investigation involved a match between Romanian duo Andreea Mitu and Patricia Maria Tig and Sizikova and American Madison Brengle. The Romanian won the game before being eliminated in the third round.
Belot explained that Sizikova and her doubles partner allegedly lost a serve deliberately, and the Russian had a double fault in his serve.
He added that Sizikova contacted the tennis authorities last year and she provided them with an explanation, which he said made them “satisfied.”
Belot said: “Therefore, Yana Sizikova went to Paris to participate in the 2021 French Open Women’s Doubles a week ago. This is a calm and best state of mind.”
“When she was arrested, she and her father were shocked.”
The 26-year-old Sizikova is ranked 101st in the doubles world and 765th in singles matches. According to data from the Women’s Tennis Association, during her career, she won $206,617 in prize money.
On Thursday, she and her doubles partner were eliminated in the first round of the French Open in two straight sets.
A person close to the organization said that the International Tennis Integrity Agency is the sport’s anti-corruption watchdog. Once a player is charged, it can be temporarily suspended. The person familiar with the matter said that the agency established by the sport’s governing body has discussed the situation with the French police.
In May of this year, the Kazakh tennis player Roman Khassanov was suspended for 10 years after admitting to violating anti-corruption regulations. In January of this year, ITIA suspended two Russian players for life after investigating game fraud.
In 2016, the world’s number one men’s singles player Novak Djokovic told how he Rejected a method He deliberately lost the game when he was a teenager.
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According to European Union law enforcement agency Europol, tennis and football are the two most commonly targeted sports by criminals, which warned that sports and financial pressures from the coronavirus pandemic in the wider economy could increase corruption risk.
In August last year, Europol warned that it had discovered an increase in fraudulent plans for tennis matches, and that organized criminal groups in Europe and Asia had “largely participated” in the sport.
According to law enforcement agencies, there is evidence that between 2014 and 2018, nearly 500 tennis matches were rigged. The game manipulator can try to manipulate the result of the game, single set, game or serve.
The arrest of Sizikova is the latest controversy at this year’s French Open, one of the four major sports events.Earlier this week, the second-ranked Osaka Naomi exit From the consecutive references to mental health issues in the press conference.
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