Growing up watching tennis I remember seeing Wayne Ferreira and Amanda Coezter slogging away on the international circuit, and nowadays we have the big-serving Kevin Anderson doing us proud.

Then you have Bob Hewitt, who has somewhat tainted that image, and now we can add Joshua Chetty to that list.

The 21-year-old was this week banned for life from professional tennis for match-fixing, with this below from Tennis.com:

The Tennis Integrity Unit says 21-year-old Joshua Chetty offered a player $2,000 to underperform in a singles match and $600 in a doubles match during a Futures event in Stellenbosch, South Africa, in November 2015. The approached player, who wasn’t identified, rejected the offers and reported the matter to the TIU.

Oh Joshua, you’ve really botched this one mate. Maybe he was beginning to get a little desperate, given that his world ranking currently sits at 1 875.

Anyone else think he looks like a bit of a twat?

IOL with Tennis South Africa’s reaction:

The lifetime ban from all professional tennis applies with immediate effect and means the player is not allowed to compete in, or attend, any tournament or event organised or sanctioned by the governing bodies of the sport. President of Tennis South Africa (TSA) Gavin Crookes said TSA supports this decision unreservedly.

“The maintenance of the integrity of our sport is paramount, David Haggerty, the president of the International Tennis Federation has made this one of his core objectives over the next three years, this likewise is one of my core objectives for the coming three years as president of Tennis South Africa.

All stakeholders need to know that the running of our sport is above reproach and that any transgression by any player, official or administrator will be dealt with harshly.”

Thanks for coming Joshua – game, set, match.

[sources:tennis&iol]