The International Tennis Integrity Agency announced Friday it had suspended Jasmina Tinjić for six years for allegedly fixing matches.
The ITIA said Tinjić admitted to 23 “breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program,” including “contriving the outcome of matches, facilitating wagering, receiving money in return for not giving best efforts in matches, and failure to report corrupt approaches.”
The 33-year-old Tinjić, ranked as high as 236th in 2013, did not contest the charges relating to “corrupt activity” in 2017 and 2018, the ITIA said.
The International Betting Integrity Association was flagged in January 2018 while she was playing in a tournament, which led to an investigation.
“Swedish authorities carried out an investigation into various tennis matches Ms. Tinjić played in and for which there was also suspicious betting activity,” the ITIA said in its ruling.
That investigation led to criminal charges against her after she was found guilty of accepting a bribe of 12,000 SEK (equivalent to about $1,160).
It found that several matches in three different countries were fixed. It was also revealed there had been a bank transfer.
The ITIA blanked out the name of who made the transfer and other specifics from instances of the alleged match-fixing.
Tinjić also failed to cooperate and allegedly tampered with evidence.
“At the time, she was extremely stressed, and suffered from anxiety and depression,” the agency said. “Her financial situation exacerbated these and did not allow her to deal with them properly. She was thus vulnerable and allowed herself to be influenced in a way that would or should not have happened otherwise. For this she expresses her deep regret and anguish.”
Tinjić had already been issued a 4½-year domestic ban in Sweden after a match-fixing investigation there.
The ITIA said its six-year ban was backdated to match the Swedish ban and will end May 17, 2028.
Tinjić won four singles and 12 doubles titles on the ITF women’s tour.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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