Guillermo Olaso from Spain, Tennis Player Banned For Five Years

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 24th December 2013

Tennis Conde Godo Tournament in Barcelona

Guillermo Olaso from Spain, Tennis Player Banned For Five Years

epa03673099 Spanish player Guillermo Olaso returns the ball to his compatriot Gerard Granollers during their Conde Godo Tournament first round match in Barcelona, northeastern Spain, 22 April 2013. The tournament runs until 28 April. EPA/TONI ALBIR |

Christmas is supposedly the time of goodwill to all men but the Tennis Integrity Unit have shown no seasonal mercy and have banned Spanish player Guillermo Olaso from the sport for five years after he was found guilty of match fixing.

Rumors about a Spanish player being in trouble with the TIU have been circulating around the game for several weeks and Bilbao-born and based Olaso is indeed the player defended by prominent lawyer Javier Tebas, president of the Spanish Football League.

Earlier this month Tebas publicly claimed, without actually naming the player, that Olaso was “not a criminal but a victim of the Russian betting mafia.”

Such pleas of mitigation for the 25 year-old, currently ranked world no. 236 in the world, fell on deaf ears within the TIU, a London-based body led by former Metropolitan Police officers and funded by the International Tennis Federation, the Grand Slam committee and both the ATP World Tour and WTA.

Olaso was found guilty of three corruption offenses in 2010, including directly or indirectly seeking to “contrive the outcome or any other aspect of any event.

He was also found guilty of two counts of failing to report approaches to provide inside information or influence the outcome and in addition to his ban, has been fined $US 25,000 (£15,300).

However there was a brief moment of Yuletide compassion as the TIU maintained Olaso won’t have to serve the final 18 months of his ban if he has repaid the $25,000 fine by then and has attended anti-corruption and rehabilitation programs.

The TIU revealed the incidents occurred in 2010 but did not say which matches. An official statement was released by spokesman Mark Harrison, who said: “Olaso is not eligible to participate in any tournament or competition organized or sanctioned by the governing bodies of professional tennis.”

Olaso reached a career high ranking of 167 in July, 2011 and in total has played only six times on the main ATP World Tour. To date his career earnings total $247,035 but he reached four Futures finals in 2013. This year he qualified for main tour events in Montpelier and Barcelona but lost in the first round on both occasions.

Topics: 10sballs, Atp World Tour, Guillermo Olaso, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, TIU, Wta