Corruption is the ugly side of tennis that rarely shows its face. We have seen players like Cristobal Saavedra-Corvalan, Potito Starace, and Daniele Bracciali get suspended for not speaking up about corruption. Now, more names are set to be added to that list, signaling a crackdown on reporting failures.
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“Mark Kaufman (Russia) and Luka Todorovic (Serbia) have accepted sanctions for breaching tennis’ anti-corruption rules,” wrote the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) in a statement published on August 28, 2026. Along with these players, Croatian tennis coach Marino Jakic has also been suspended.
Mark Kaufman and Luka Todorovic accepted sanctions for separate breaches of tennis’ anti-corruption rules. Kaufman received an 18-month suspension, while Todorovic was handed a 9-week suspension for his violation.
Meanwhile, Jakic’s appeal failed, leaving him suspended as investigators continue examining his case.
Kaufman’s case carries the longest punishment after he failed to cooperate with investigators. The 20-year-old Russian refused an ITIA request to examine his phone during investigations. He reached a career-high doubles ranking of 2,023 in September 2025, before this mess.
Kaufman has been suspended since December 24, 2025, with his ban ending in June 2027. He was also fined $5,000, although $3,500 of that amount remains suspended.
Todorovic, on the other hand, was punished for failing to report suspected corrupt activity during 2023. The 24-year-old Serbian accepted a nine-week suspension and received a $10,000 fine from authorities. Of that amount, $7,500 remains suspended under the terms of his agreed sanction.
His ban began on August 19th and will end on October 21st. Todorovic reached a career-high singles ranking of 1728 in 2021.
While Jakic is caught up in a completely different mess.
The Croatian coach was provisionally suspended from June 24th over possible breaches committed in 2023. Jakic appealed the decision, hoping an independent hearing would allow him to return to the court. But AHO Amani Khalifa upheld the suspension on August 18th after reviewing evidence.
Khalifa ruled that there is enough evidence to keep the coach on the sidelines.
While suspended, none of them can coach or attend sanctioned events. That keeps them away from ATP, WTA, Grand Slam, World Tennis, and national events. No specific details revealing the exact cause of suspension has been released by the ITIA yet.
For Kaufman, 18 months away could be a big miss and could be a big problem for him improving his ranking. Todorovic faces a shorter sentence, but missing games and tournaments is never a good thing for rising players. Tennis has seen a few other suspensions in the past month.
Top tennis players suspended in the last few months
While Kaufman and Todorovic are new names, there have been names in the last few months that have been facing some serious charges. Nick Kyrgios and Markéta Vondroušová have recently become tennis’s biggest names facing suspension.
Kyrgios was provisionally suspended from August 4th after testing positive for cocaine in Mallorca. His June sample contained benzoylecgonine, leaving the former Wimbledon finalist unable to compete in the US Open.
The Australian accepted the suspension, apologized publicly, and called the incident a huge mistake on his part.
Vondroušová’s case followed with a far longer punishment, carrying consequences until June of 2030. The 2023 Wimbledon champion received a 4-year suspension after refusing an out-of-competition doping test. The incident occurred at her Prague home on December 3, 2025.
She has appealed to CAS, meaning that the door to coming back is open for now. But there is very little hope around it.
Beyond those headline cases, other players are serving punishments for separate breaches under ITIA rules.
Stefano Battaglino received a 4-year ban after testing positive for clostebol during an event in Casablanca. Alexandra Iordache and Hugo Daubias are serving 2-year bans, while Igor Zelenay received a 9-month ban.
For now, these players remain away from competition, and these players are in the spotlight for all the reasons that tennis should not be associated with.