The Tennis Integrity Unit has found Argentina’s Nicolas Kicker guilty of match-fixing and has suspended him from the tour in what is one of the most high profile anti-corruption cases in recent years.
Kicker, who has won three Challenger titles during his career, has been suspended from all tennis events sanctioned by the governing bodies of the sport until further notice. The governing bodies are the ITF, ATP, WTA and Grand Slam board. In a statement published by the TIU on Thursday evening, the 25-year-old has been found guilty of breaching three rules of the anti-corruption programme. A hearing into the case took place in Miami on March 25th this year, followed by a investigation by the TIU.
“Having been found guilty of all charges, he will be sanctioned at a future date to be determined by Independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer (AHO) Jane Mulcahy,” said a TIU statement.
“Details of the decision on sanctions will be made public when received.”
The penalty issued to the world No.84 is in relation to the 2015 season. During that year he was found to be guilty of ‘contriving the outcome’ of two separate matches. One of those occurred at the Padova Open in Italy, where Kicker lost 6-1, 6-2, to Lee Duck-hee in the first round. The next incident occurred later that year at the Barranquilla Open in Colombia. The Argentine was seeded eighth in the draw, but lost 5-7, 6-2, 7-5, to Giovanni Lapentti.
It was at the Barranquilla Open where questions mounted over the Argentine. Website sportdw.com wrote an article called ‘how to fix a match (by Nicolas Kicker).‘ In the article, it found evidence that there was almost £700,000 matched on Betfair on the match market concerning his first round loss.
“There is virtually no way to explain the movement of the betting odds other than that someone knew the outcome of the match before it happened. An injury might have moved the odds to an extent, but there was no indication of any injury.” Writes Sport DW.
Kicker later withdrew from the doubles draw of the tournament, citing a back injury as the reason.
During the TIU investigation, Kicker has also been found guilty of failing to report a corrupt approach to authorities. As well as refusing to cooperate with the TIU over the allegations made against him.
Kicker had been playing on the tour until this week at the Lyon Open where he lost in the first round. Earlier this year he reached the third round of both the Australian Open and the BNP Paribas Masters in Indian Wells. He has a ranking high of 78th, which was achieved in 2017. He is yet to comment about his suspension.
List of rules Kicker has breeched, according to the TIU
Section D.1.d: “No Covered Person shall, directly or indirectly, contrive or attempt to contrive the outcome or any other aspect of any Event.”
Section D.2.c: “For the avoidance of doubt, (i) a failure of the Reporting Obligation by any Covered Person; and/or (ii) a failure of the duty to co-operate under Section F.2 shall constitute a Corruption Offense for all purposes of the Program.”
Section F.2.b: “All Covered Persons must co-operate fully with investigations conducted by the TIU including giving evidence at hearings, if requested. No Covered Person shall tamper with or destroy any evidence or other information related to any Corruption Offense.”
