Chilean tennis coach and ex-player Sebastián Rivera has been banned from the sport for life after being found guilty of numerous match-fixing offences.
Rivera was found guilty of 64 offences, the most ever detected for a player by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) or its predecessor, the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU).
As a result, he has been permanently prohibited from attending or participating in, either as a coach or player, any tennis event authorised by an official governing body. Rivera has also been handed a $250,000 fine.
This case was ruled on by Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer Jane Mulcahy QC. Rivera, according to the ITIA, “failed to engage meaningfully with the disciplinary process.”
Rivera’s offences cover four areas of the 2017 and 2018 Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme (TACP): Section D.1.b, Section D.1.d, Section D.1.f and Section D.1.g.
These prohibit involved parties, referred to individually as a “covered person,” in any way soliciting or facilitating someone to wager on “the outcome or any other aspect” of an event.
For example, Section D.1.b states this means a covered person cannot write “articles for a tennis betting publication,” conduct “personal appearances for a tennis betting company” or appear “in commercials encouraging others to bet on tennis,” among other activities.
Involved parties are also prohibited from, either directly or indirectly, contriving or attempting to contrive the outcome of an event, and may not accept or offer any money that may negatively influence a “player’s best efforts.”
Before he retired from professional play and became a coach, Rivera’s highest ATP ranking was 705.
