French tennis is reeling from the Quentin Folliot affair. The 26-year-old, formerly ranked 488th in the world, has been suspended for twenty years by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). Presented as a "central figure" in a network operating for an organization specializing in match-fixing, he becomes the sixth player sanctioned as part of this extensive investigation. He will be banned not only from playing, but also from coaching or even attending an official tournament for two decades.
According to the ITIA, Quentin Folliot was found guilty of 27 offenses, including match-fixing, accepting money to intentionally lose, attempting to bribe other players, destroying evidence, and refusing to cooperate. In addition to these sporting sanctions, he was fined $70,000 and ordered to repay $44,600 in illegal winnings.
The independent judge who issued the ruling emphasized that the player's actions extended far beyond his own matches: Folliot allegedly actively recruited other players to expand the influence of a criminal network within the professional circuit. This aggravating circumstance explains the exceptional severity of the sanction.
