Quentin Folliot, a French tennis player currently serving a 20-year ban for match-fixing, has spoken out about his involvement in corruption within professional tennis and the personal consequences of his suspension. Folliot, 27, who reached a career-high singles ranking of 488 in August 2022, admitted to fixing four matches but disputes allegations that he played a central role in recruiting others into a match-fixing network, as determined by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).
In an interview with a French newspaper, Folliot described his experience as “nothing but emptiness” following the ban, which effectively ended his professional career. He explained that after being approached around age 16 or 17, he entered a cycle of corruption that he found difficult to escape, saying he was threatened when he attempted to stop participating. “All my life, I’ve only known tennis,” he said. “It’s a sporting death, a social death.”
The proceedings against Folliot culminated in a December 2025 decision by the ITIA’s anticorruption hearing officer, Amani Khalifa, who upheld 27 out of 30 charges related to manipulations of 10 matches between 2022 and 2024. According to the ruling, Folliot manipulated five matches and offered other players payments to lose or fix matches. Evidence presented included witness testimony and phone messages, with financial transactions traced to his Binance cryptocurrency account.
One key detail in the ruling noted that Folliot offered a fellow French player, Lucas Bouquet, $22,500 to lose a match, with Folliot himself expected to receive nearly $17,000. Messages also showed him offering another player, Luc Fomba, $10,000 per match, and facilitating fixes involving other competitors. Investigators concluded that Folliot actively recruited players and advised on payment and concealment strategies, including the use of anonymous cryptocurrency accounts. Folliot, however, denies any recruitment role, acknowledging only that he once shared a match-fixer’s contact details upon request.
Khalifa also considered Folliot’s claims of intimidation but determined these carried little weight as he failed to report them promptly, contravening regulations. Further aggravating the sanctions, the panel found that Folliot obstructed investigators by remotely locking his phone and encouraging destruction of evidence, leading to an increase in his suspension from an initial 15 years to 20. In addition, Folliot was fined $70,000 and ordered to repay $44,624.40 in illicit earnings.
Folliot has lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, expressing confusion and frustration over the length of the ban and describing his situation as being subjected to “relentless persecution.”
His case arrives amid a broader crackdown on corruption in lower-level professional tennis, where players often struggle financially. Last week, the ITIA announced a 29-year-old Serbian player, Stefan Milicevic, has been banned until 2050 following findings that he fixed six matches and attempted to fix six others over four years.