Tennis
Russian tennis player was arrested at Roland Garros. Did you play too bad?
Yana was taken to the police directly from the massage table.
The organizers of Roland Garros, unlike their colleagues from Wimbledon, did not take any additional sanctions against Russian tennis players. However, for at least one of our tennis players, a trip to Paris turned into a real hell.
French police detained Yana Sizikova on suspicion of organizing match-fixing. The girl spent a day at the police station, but due to lack of evidence, she was released.
The investigation lasted almost two and a half years.
I made two double mistakes – I organized a “negotiable”
In 2020, Russian tennis player Yana Sizikova, along with American Madison Brengle, took part in the Roland Garros doubles. The girls in the first round lost to rivals from Romania, and it was this game that aroused the suspicions of the special unit for ensuring honesty and transparency in tennis (TIU).
In the fifth game of the second set, when Yana was serving, both tennis players made many incomprehensible mistakes. First, Sizikova made a double mistake, then the girls lost two draws in a row, and the Russian woman completed the game with another double.
Nothing surprising, especially for women’s tennis. However, the bookmakers fixed abnormally large bets on the loss of Sizikova and Brengle in the fifth game of the second set. The total amount of bets was several hundred thousand euros. This was the reason for the investigation by the TIU.
“In fact, what should I be afraid of?”
However, the Russian woman was detained only a year later, in 2021. Sizikova again took part in the Roland Garros doubles games, this time in a duet with compatriot Ekaterina Alexandrova. After the game, Yana was on a rejuvenating massage when the French police came for her and took her to the police station. The girl was suspected of “deliberate loss” and “complicity in fraud on the sweepstakes.” Under French law, Sizikova faced up to five years in prison and a fine of several hundred thousand euros.
Sizikova, of course, denied her guilt and tried to explain to the police that everyone makes mistakes. Moreover, Yana has never been famous for her stable serve. At the time of her arrest, she had only one WTA title, won in 2019 in Lausanne together with Anastasia Potapova.
Searches were carried out in the room of the Russian woman: they carefully checked the phone and tablet, tried to find at least some connection with bookmakers or intermediaries. According to the lawyer of the tennis player, the name of Sizikova simply surfaced on the Internet, and the police decided to check her as a possible organizer of fixed matches.
Yana was kept at the police station for a day, but nothing was found that could confirm the guilt of the tennis player. On July 4, the girl was released. Soon she left France and filed a counterclaim with the prosecutor for slander against her, but it was later rejected.
For Yana, the detention turned out to be a very emotional moment, because of which she stopped trusting others.
– There were many thoughts. Again, I had nothing to say to them, because, in fact, what should I be afraid of? Rather, it was fear for the whole general situation: to think that they could remove me – no, there was no such thing. Just for nothing. Thanks to the family, it went faster than expected. But even today it is very difficult for me to talk about it. It took more than six months for me to stop thinking about everything. To be honest, I even tense up when there are a lot of strangers around the court – I don’t feel very comfortable, ”Sizikova told the Championship in August 2022.
Nevertheless, the investigation was conducted for more than two years, only on April 11, 2023, the Paris prosecutor’s office closed the criminal case, because no evidence could be found. This season, Sizikova reunited with Potapova and even for the first time in her career went beyond the first round at the Grand Slam tournament, but this happened in Australia, but at Roland Garros Sizikova, along with Alexandra Panova, finished the fight at the start. Well, it’s good that at least they didn’t get arrested!
Xenia Antonova
Source: Sportbox
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.