Serbian David Savic has succeeded in his appeal to be allowed to coach from March 2016 despite a life ban from tennis, after he provided substantial assistance to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU). Richard McLaren, an independent anti-corruption hearing officer for the TIU, took into consideration assistance provided to the TIU including support for the TIU’s player education programme. This included Savic appearing in a film to warn other players against involvement in betting-related corruption.

His lifetime ban from playing the sport, imposed in 2011 after the TIU found him guilty of three rule breaches, will remain. In a 2012 appeal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) refused to accept Savic’s explanation that he was set up by a top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) player, whom Savic claimed had told the TIU that Savic asked him to fix a match in exchange for money. However, it did remove a US$100,000 fine, as it accepted that Savic’s career earnings were $86,727.

‘The logical explanation for both telephone calls and text is that they were initiated by the Appellant and not by any third person’, reads the 2012 CAS decision, in which the name of the ATP player is redacted. ‘Not only is the Appellant’s version entirely speculative, but it defines common sense’. Savic retired from playing tennis in 2011, following his ban.