Serbian tennis player Savic banned for life

Low-ranked Serbian David Savic has been banned for life for match-fixing offences, the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) said Saturday. Savic, ranked 659 in the ATP standings, was also fined $100,000 after being found guilty of three violations under the Uniform Tennis Anti-Corruption Program including "contriving or attempting to contrive the outcome of an event."

In a statement the TIU said the Savic, 26, had committed the offences in October last year and had been found guilty at an independent anti-corruption disciplinary hearing in London this month.

"The life ban applies with immediate effect and means that Mr Savic is not eligible to participate in any tournament or competition organized or sanctioned by the governing bodies of professional tennis from the date of this statement," the TIU said.

Savic is the second player to be banned for life after Austrian player Daniel Koellerer was found guilty of a similar violation in May.

The TIU was set up in 2008 and is supported by the Grand Slam Committee, the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the ATP World Tour and the WTA.

The 26-year-old Savic was found guilty of the same three violations of the sport's anti-corruption rules as Koellerer, including "contriving or attempting to contrive the outcome of an event."

Savic reached a career best 363rd in the rankings in 2009 and never played above the challenger circuit.

The anti-corruption hearing was held on Sept. 12 in London and details will not be made public, the TIU said.

Koellerer, a former Davis Cup player who once ranked 55th, is fighting his ban that resulted from violations between October 2009 and July 2010.

The TIU has been set up on behalf of the International Tennis Federation and the ATP and WTA Tours.

Five Italians were among lower-ranked players sanctioned by the ATP in recent years for betting on matches — receiving suspensions ranging from six weeks to nine months between 2007-08. French player Mathieu Montcourt also was banned for two months in 2008.

Russian player Nikolay Davydenko was cleared in 2008 of any wrongdoing following an investigation by the ATP into suspicious betting patterns surrounding his match against 87th-ranked Martin Vassallo Arguello the previous year.