French player suspended for seven years after failing to comply with ITIA investigation

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) is responsible for imposing sanctions on players found guilty of violating anti-doping or anti-corruption regulations, and French player Maxence Broville seems to be the latest player to have been handed a suspension.

The 25-year old French journeyman plies his trade on the ITF World Tour, and achieved a career-high ranking of World No.708 in 2023. However, it appears Broville has been suspended for a period of seven years and fined a whopping $5,000 for failing to cooperate in an investigation.

Broville was being investigated for match-fixing in 2017 and 2018, during which he denied all these charges and was scheduled for a hearing in front of Charles Hollander, an independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer (AHO) on January 5th, 2024. Unfortunately, Broville did not comply with investigators and failed to provide his personal devices for inspection despite being given written instructions by investigators to do so. He was therefore provisionally suspended on June 20th, 2023, while an investigation took place.

However, due to his lack of compliance with the investigators, he was handed a substantial sanction. The ITIA will backdate the start date of the suspension to the day he was provisionally suspended, meaning his seven-year ban will end on June 19th, 2030, when he'll be 31. Therefore, in his time away from competition, Broville will not be allowed to play, coach, or attend any tennis tournament authorized by a member of the ITIA. These include the ATP, WTA, ITF Tour, the four bodies in charge of the Grand Slams, or any national association. Romanian tennis star Simona Halep was recently handed a four-year suspension for violating the ITIA's doping policy, although the former World No.1 has contested the sanction and is due to appear at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.