Tennis coach Max Wenders banned for match-fixing

One of the charges against Wenders came under a rule which forbids people involved with tennis to directly or indirectly, facilitate any Player to not use his or her best efforts in any Event.

Dutch tennis coach Max Wenders has been banned from the sport for 12 years for match-fixing, the International Tennis Integrity Agency said Wednesday.

The ITIA said Wenders admitted to “multiple match-fixing charges” and also admitted to destroying evidence and failing to report a corrupt approach.

One of the charges against Wenders came under a rule which forbids people involved with tennis to “directly or indirectly, facilitate any Player to not use his or her best efforts in any Event.” The ITIA didn’t say when or where the alleged conduct happened, and it didn’t name any players.

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The case was originally heard by Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer (AHO) Professor Richard McLaren in April 2021 who ruled that Wenders should also pay a fine of $12,000. Publication of the sanction was delayed following submissions from Mr Wenders’ legal team, however AHO McLaren has now lifted that prohibition.

The ITIA said Wenders was banned and fined $12,000 at a hearing in April 2021 but that the sanctions weren’t published until now following submissions from Wenders’ legal team. He is not allowed to attend any tennis tournament authorized by the sport’s main governing bodies until 2033.

Tennis: Swiatek returns with one-sided win in Warsaw

WARSAW (AFP) - World number one Iga Swiatek eased into the second round of the Poland Open on Wednesday (July 27) with a straight-sets thrashing of fellow home player Magdalena Frech.

The French Open champion romped to a 6-1, 6-2 victory at the Warsaw clay-court event in her first match since suffering a shock third-round defeat by Alize Cornet in the Wimbledon third round.

"For sure, playing in your hometown with all that crowd is pretty extraordinary," Swiatek said.

"I didn't get a chance to play many tournaments in Poland so for sure I needed extra focus and determination to come here and stay in the zone and not let my head think about other stuff."

She added: "I'm happy that I was solid today because Magda is not an easy opponent. From the beginning I wanted to put pressure on her and I did that pretty well."

Swiatek had been on a remarkable 37-match winning streak before her early exit at Wimbledon, taking six successive titles along the way.

The 21-year-old was back to her dominant best against Frech, not facing a single break point as she wrapped up the win in 73 minutes.

She will next face Romanian lucky loser and world number 146 Gabriela Lee for a quarter-final place.

Halep suffers neck injury with Wimbledon days away

Simona Halep was forced to withdraw from her Bad Homburg Open semi-final against Bianca Andreescu due to a neck injury.

Unseeded Andreescu had a walkover to reach her sixth career final, and first on hard courts, and will meet Caroline Garcia in Saturday's showpiece in Germany.

I am sorry that I had to withdraw before my semi-final match, No 4 seed Halep said in a statement.

But unfortunately I woke up this morning with a blocked neck and this is not allowing me to perform to the best of my ability.

Andreescu will contest her first final since the 2021 Miami Open nearly 17 months ago, where she was forced to retire against Ashleigh Barty.

The 2019 US Open champion is playing her sixth tournament of the season following a six-month hiatus to look after her mental health.

Andreescu is bidding to win her fourth career title and will certainly be fresher than Garcia, who beat French compatriot Alize Cornet 7-6 (11-9) 3-6 7-5 in two hours and 45 minutes.

No 9 seed Cornet had a match point at 5-4 in the final set, but Garcia saved that to force deuce and went on to win the last three games.

Nick Kyrgios has been handed a wild card to feature in the Western & Southern Open next month in Cincinnati.

The Australian’s appearance will be his sixth at the event and first since 2019, with the tournament also where he finished runner-up to Grigor Dimitrov in 2017 after defeating Rafael Nadal earlier in the competition.

Kyrgios has four wins over top 10 players this year and has reached three semi-finals on the ATP Tour, with the 27-year-old also earning his first Grand Slam major title earlier this year when he won the Australian Open doubles with countryman Thanasi Kokkinakis.

The Wimbledon finalist, 45th in last week’s ranking, was handed a wild card to the ATP Masters 1000 event after being just outside the cut off to qualify automatically.

Together with the WTA 1000 women’s tournament, the player fields feature the world’s top-ranked 41 men and 39 women, 11 past champions and 19 Grand Slam major winners including Serena Williams and 2021 U.S. Open champions Daniil Medvedev and Emma Raducanu.

The 'Big Four' will play on the same team at Laver Cup in London

Tennis fans are used to seeing Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray fight tooth and nail to beat each other at the Grand Slams but the "Big Four" are set to play together in the same team for the first time at the Laver Cup in London.

Wimbledon champion Djokovic on Friday was named as the fourth member of the six-man Team Europe, the 35-year-old Serb joining his long-time rivals at the fifth edition of the ATP-sanctioned event from September 23-25.

Named after Australian great Rod Laver, the three-day team event pits six of Europe's top players against six from the rest of the world.

It's the only competition where you can play in a team environment with guys that you're normally competing against and to be joining Rafa, Roger and Andy - three of my biggest all-time rivals - it's going to be a truly unique moment in the history of our sport, Djokovic said in a statement.

Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and Murray have dominated men's tennis over the last two decades, winning 66 Grand Slam titles between them.

Nadal holds a men's record 22 Grand Slam titles with Djokovic, who played in the second edition of the Laver Cup in 2018, one behind.

London's O2 Arena, which hosted the men's season-ending ATP Finals from 2009 to 2020, will stage the Cup with Team Europe, captained by Bjorn Borg, having won all the previous editions.

I don't think I could have imagined having these four icons of the sport on one team together, said Borg.

I know they, like I, appreciate the significance of this moment and will be truly up for it.

Each year our goal is to win. With Rafa, Roger, Andy and Novak on the team, I like our chances.

Team World captain John McEnroe has named Felix Auger-Aliassime, Taylor Fritz and Diego Schwartzman as three members of his team.

ATP cancels China events due to Covid restrictions

The Shanghai Masters and three other men's tournaments in China will not be held this year due to Covid-19 restrictions in the country, the ATP Tour have confirmed.

China hosted the Winter Olympics under strict health protocols in February but almost every other international sporting event in the country this year has been cancelled or postponed.

ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi revealed last month that the prospects of the 2022 China swing were bleak.

This marks the third year of cancellation for the ATP's China swing, typically hosted in September and October and last staged in 2019, prior to the pandemic, the men's governing body said in a statement.

As of July 20, mainland China had confirmed 228,180 cases of COVID-19 with symptoms since the pandemic first struck in December 2019.

Although the number is small by global standards, authorities in China are sticking to a stringent zero-COVID policy, while other countries have relaxed their rules and chosen to live with the virus.

The French Open and Wimbledon were recently held without any health restrictions and it was unlikely players would have agreed to go to China if there was any period of isolation involved.

In addition to the Oct. 9-16 Shanghai Masters, China was scheduled to host the Chengdu Open and Zhuhai Championships, both starting on Sept. 26, and the China Open from Oct. 3-9 in Beijing.

To fill the hole in the calendar left by the cancellation of the China events, the men's body said it has granted single-year event licenses to six ATP 250 tournaments.

As a global sport we continue to manage the impacts of the pandemic, Gaudenzi said. "Event cancellations are an unfortunate reality, and we wish our affected tournament members and fans well.

At the same time, it's incredibly encouraging to have many great cities step up to host ATP Tour tennis this season.