Match-Fixing Reports Hit Hard On Tennis Including Grand Slam Champions

Match-fixing has been part of the top level of competitive tennis for over a decade, according to a report from the BBC.

In the report, it states that 16 Top 50 professional tennis players have been flagged by the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) for throwing matches in exchange for various sums of money. These individuals include winners of Grand Slam tournaments in the past. The TIU, which was set up after the initial claim that was found in 2007, has stated that there is a zero-tolerance approach to corruption. Chris Kermode, head of the Association of Tennis Professionals, has stated that the evidence has been “suppressed” and “isn’t being thoroughly investigated” but has added that because of the report, the association “will investigate any new information.”

The evidence started off with an investigaion in 2007 after a match between Nikolay Davydenko and Martin Vassallo Arguello. Both players were eventually acquitted of any wrongdoing, but it led to further investigations of private gamblers who may have been linked to top level players. Once these claims reached the TIU, it was unable to investigate because the incidents occurred before the TIU’s founding. According to BuzzFeed, “Bookmakers have told BuzzFeed News that, in many cases, when they tried to warn the Tennis Integrity Unit about suspicious matches they got no response. The tennis authorities often did not follow up to request in-depth information – such as the betting history and computer details of the suspicious gamblers – to which only bookmakers have access. Without that information, they say, a thorough investigation would be virtually impossible.”

No names have been named in either report from BuzzFeed or the BBC due to strict libel laws in the UK.