ATP: Nicolas Kicker to have manipulated 2015 Challenger matches

Nicolas Kicker has to expect a ban: The Argentinean was found guilty by the Tennis Integrity Unit of the World Association of Match Manipulation.

When Nicolas Kicker made a respectable run to the quarter-finals at last year’s ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Hamburg, where he was defeated by Philipp Kohlschreiber, the Argentinian’s performances attracted some attention several hundred kilometres south of the port city. After all, it had become public that Kicker also possesses an Austrian rice passport and could possibly imagine competing for Red-White-Red in the Davis Cup.

This idea has not developed much since then, Austria can advance to the world group after victories against Belarus and in Moscow in September. Without Nicolas Kicker, because he has other worries.

The 25-year-old from Merlo was found guilty by the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) of manipulating the outcome of two Challenger tournaments (in Padua and Baranquilla) in 2015. Almost three years later, the Commission also concluded that Kicker had not reported an attempt at bribery and would not have cooperated in investigating it.

For the Argentinean this means at the moment that he is not allowed to participate in any tournaments. The sentence has not yet been decided.