Samuel Besoussan had appealed his original one-year, eleven-month ban to the CAS, hoping to have the ITIA verdict overturned. But in an unfortunate turn of events, the Frenchman’s appeal was rejected by CAS. But alongside that came worse news.

“The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed an appeal by French tennis player Samuel Bensoussan against a Tennis Anti-Corruption Program sanction issued in May 2025,” wrote ITIA in a statement. “Upon review, the CAS increased Bensoussan’s suspension to three years.”

The dominoes began to fall in 2023, when the ITIA and Belgian authorities launched a joint initiative to stop illegal betting syndicates in Belgium. The investigation was elaborate, revealing a potential list of nearly 200 tennis players who were engaged in match-fixing at the syndicate’s bidding in exchange for financial rewards. This is where Samuel Bensoussan’s name was linked to the criminal syndicate, with ITIA investigating the French player’s possible ties to match-fixing.

In May last year, Bensoussan was found guilty of match-fixing, along with three other players, and each of them received a ban commensurate with their anti-corruption violation. Bensoussan was found guilty in 2018 of accepting bribes from bookies and engaging in spot-fixing in matches. The investigation revealed that the Frenchman had not thrown the results of the matches, but rather thrown away specific points and lost individual games in a set. These revelations led the ITIA to hand down the original ban, along with a $12,000 fine, an amount that did not change in the new CAS verdict.

While the incidents have taken place at lower-tier events, there have been instances of some of the top-ranked players being investigated in light of fixing allegations, as a past investigation into a former World No.3 led to the formation of the Tennis Integrity Unit back in 2008, which now exists in the form of ITIA.

The ITIA Was Formed Due to Fixing Allegations Against a Former World No.3

Back in 2007, former World No.3 Nikolai Davydenko came under heavy match-fixing allegations in his match against Martin Vasallo Arguello. The match started with the Russian winning the first set, but it was the Argentine who won the match in the third set as Davydenko retired. The situation was not out of the ordinary as the Russian had shown poor form and was suffering from a few injuries in recent months. However, what was startling was the large amount of money bet on the Arguello to win, especially after the higher-ranked Davydenko had won.

The irregularities were flagged by a British gambling company, which duly alerted the ATP, which launched an investigation. Even though both Davydenko and Arguello were cleared of charges, the tennis authorities took the initiative to rebuild the sport’s image, which was marred by the controversy. The ATP, WTA, ITF, and the Grand Slam Board jointly established the Tennis Integrity Unit in 2008, which later became the ITIA in 2021.

Even with several anti-corruption protocols in place, players have been involved in match-fixing, as seen in the Bensoussan case. Even some former top-ranked players, such as Marco Cecchinato, Aslan Karatsev, and Nikoloz Basilashvili, have been investigated but not found guilty of the charges.