Former World Number 55 Austrian tennis player Daniel Koellerer has been banned from the sport for life and fined 100,000 U.S. dollars for match-fixing, announced the anti-corruption Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) on Tuesday.
In a one of its kind case Koellerer, a former Davis Cup player, was found guilty of three violations of the sport’s anti-corruption rules, including “contriving or attempting to contrive the outcome of an event.” The violations occurred between October 2009 and July 2010.
Koeller is currently ranked 385th on the ATP World Rankings.
The case against Kolellerer was based on the findings of a TIU investigation and considered by an independent anti-corruption hearing officer at a two-day hearing held in London on 27-28 April. The details of the investigation will not be revealed.
The life ban applies with immediate effect which means that Koellerer is not eligible to participate in any tournament or competition organized or sanctioned by the governing bodies of professional tennis from the date of the statement.
The Austrian tennis federation said it hadn’t received any official confirmation regarding the sanctions imposed on Koellerer. “If the sanctions become legal, the federation will take appropriate measures on national level,” the Austrian body said.
However, the player denied the charges and is considering whether to appeal.
“This is a giant shock . I have been charged with approaching other players to fix matches. I have been accused of asking other players to lose their match. That’s total nonsense.”
Koellerer, nicknamed ‘Crazy Dani,’ turned professional in 2002 and soon was suspended by the ATP twice for bad behavior on court—in 2004 and ’06. On the second occasion, he was banned for six months.
In August 2010, Koellerer and Nareyka were placed on two years’ probation after the player’s personal website listed odds for matches and had links to sites for placing bets. At that time, Koellerer and Nareyka admitted breaking rules about “facilitating betting.”
Koellerer climbed to a career-best No. 55 after reaching the third round at the 2009 U.S. Open and won six titles on the lower-ranked Challenger circuit. He never won an ATP Tour event. Koellerer played Davis Cup for Austria once but lost his singles matches during the team’s 3-2 win over Slovakia in 2010.
