Noted coach suspended by TIU for selling wild cards

The corruption issues involving tennis at the lower levels go well beyond match-fixing.

And Miguel Tobón, the former captain of Colombia’s Davis Cup team and a coach who has worked with many of South America’s most notable players, has been suspended by the Tennis Integrity Unit.

Not for any involvement in match fixing, but for selling wild cards.

Tobon received a 12-month suspension and was fined $20,000.

The sales involved six players, and were for both singles and doubles.

The official wording goes like this:

“Tennis coach Miguel Tobón has been suspended for 12 months and fined $20,000 after being found to have traded wild cards in return for payment at a number of tennis tournaments staged in 2017.”

Among the players Tobon has worked with are Alejandro Falla, Santiago Giraldo, Paul Capdeville, Nicolas Massu, Jacobo Diaz, Catalina Castano, Eduardo Struvay, Alejandro Gonzalez and the current top doubles team of Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal.

Now 50, his residence is listed as Pembroke Pines, Fla. where he has operated an academy. He played professionally from 1998-2001 and represented Colombia as a player in 50 Davis Cup ties before two stints as captain.

Challenger in Colombia for sale

The breaches of the Anti-Corruption program took place at three Challenger events in Colombia in 2017 in Floridablanca, Bogotá and Cali.

The TIU reports that he “entered into an agreement with an individual which involved him promoting tennis events in Colombia, for which he received wild cards at those tournaments.”

“He committed a further offence by failing to co-operate with a Tennis Integrity Unit investigation, by refusing to supply his mobile phone for analysis.”

The fine and the suspension are effective as of Friday.

Tobón also was ordered to pay back the equivalent of what he received for those wild cards, a total of $6,000.

He will be barred from attending or coaching at any sanctioned tennis event during the period of the suspension.

Seems like a big risk to take for a matter of $6,000.