For the second time in the past six months, tennis has banned someone for match-fixing. This time its Aaron Cortes, a Spanish tennis player, who admitted to a litany of charges including “contriving the outcome of events, accepting money to contrive the outcome of events, failure to report corrupt approaches, wagering on tennis, and providing money to tournament officials in exchange for a wild card,” said the International Tennis Integrity Agency.
In total Cortes, 29, was fined $75,000 ($56,250 was suspended) for 35 breaches of the sport’s anti-corruption program between 2016 and 2018 and is banned for 15 years. The ban also prevents him from coaching and even attending games.
In November, a Slovenian judge was fined the same amount and banned for 10 years for match-fixing.
Cortes’ tennis career
Cortes did not have a notable tennis career. His top ranking was No. 955, with an estimated career total earning of $22,000 over eight years.
He last played in July 2018.
Despite the many embarrassing headlines of players making sports bets in the past year, the U.S. has been fortunate enough to stay away from the more damning stories found in other parts of the world. This may be due to America’s focus on team sports.
