Australian Tennis Players Catch Bans and Fines for Match Fixing

Three Australian tennis players have been handed large fines and bans from the sport after being found guilty of match fixing.
The punishments, which were handed out by the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), are meant to send a strong message to athletes in gambling-crazy Australia that match fixing of any kind will not be tolerated.
Nick Lindahl, Brandon Walkin and Isaac Frost were all found to be involved in match fixing episodes during an ITF futures tournament back in September of 2013.
Lindahl, 28, caught the worst of the TIU’s ire in the form of a seven-year ban from professional tennis events and a $47,000 fine. He was also found guilty of using corrupt conduct information by a criminal court and fined $1,000.
Whether Lindahl will care too much about the ban remains to be seen, seeing as how he retired from the sport back in 2013.
Brandon Walkin, 22, was handed a six month suspension for his role in the scandal, which involved passing information on to confederates behalf of Lindahl. His punishment was suspended and he will be free to compete so long as he stays out of further trouble.
Frost had actually already served a one-year suspension back in to 2013-2014 for his role in the scandal. He was initially accused of refusing to cooperate with the investigation by refusing to hand his cell phone over to investigators.
The TIU is an independent investigative board that’s funded by the the Grand Slam Board, the International Tennis Federation, the ATP and the WTA as part of an effort to root out corruption from the sport.