World tennis authorities reject explosive allegations of match fixing

Media reports have revealed the extent of match-fixing in the world tennis game which allegedly includes players competing at this year's Australian Open.

Stock photograph of an Australian Open Tennis Ball. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt) NO ARCHIVING

Stock photograph of an Australian Open Tennis Ball. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt) NO ARCHIVING Source: SBS

ATP executive chairman and president Chris Kermode says the organisation absolutely rejects any suggestion evidence of tennis match-fixing has been suppressed.

Kermode was responding to allegations of widespread match-fixing at the top level of tennis released hours before the start of the Australian Open, in a BuzzFeed News and BBC report on Monday. 

"The Tennis Integrity Unit and the tennis authorities absolutely reject any suggestion that evidence of match fixing has been suppressed for any reason or isn't being thoroughly investigated," he told reporters in Melbourne.

"While the BBC and BuzzFeed reports mainly refer to events from about 10 years ago, we will investigate any new information and we always do."

"We are so confident that there is nothing in the sport that has been suppressed.

"We are confident that the Tennis Integrity Unit is doing what it can, and tackles this issue very, very seriously.
"I think it will be seen that tennis is in a very, very good place and we are acting accordingly."

Secret files leaked to BuzzFeed News and the BBC allegedly show evidence of match rigging amongst some of the world's high-ranking players, including grand slam winners.

According to the report, authorities have been repeatedly warned about 16 players ranked in the top 50 who were suspected of throwing matches.

Half of the players are due to play at the Open beginning on Monday and all of the players were allowed to continue competing despite continued warnings.

The match-fixing was orchestrated by gambling syndicates in Russia and Italy and involved prominent players and included three matches at Wimbledon.

The investigation is based on a cache of leaked documents from an enquiry set up by the ATP in 2007 to look into claims of match fixing and suspicious gambling.

Revelations send shockwaves

A major investigation by BuzzFeed News UK and BBC has revealed evidence of widespread match fixing in world tennis, allegedly involving players currently competing in the Australian Open.

Over the last decade, 16 players ranked in the top 50 have been repeatedly flagged to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), which was set up to police the sport, over suspicions they have thrown matches, the news organisations said.

All of the players, including winners of Grand Slam titles, were allowed to continue competing. Eight of the players are due to play in the Australian Open which starts on Monday, they added.

The BBC and BuzzFeed News said they had not named the players because without access to their phone, bank and computer records it was not possible to determine whether they took part in match-fixing.

The TIU did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment.

The BBC and BuzzFeed News quoted Nigel Willerton, director of the TIU, as saying: "All credible information received by the TIU is analysed, assessed, and investigated by highly experienced former law-enforcement investigators."

The news organisations said they had obtained a cache of documents that included the findings of an investigation set up in 2007 by the organising body, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

The documents show the inquiry found betting syndicates in Russia, northern Italy and Sicily making hundreds of thousands of pounds betting on games which investigators thought to be fixed. Three of these games were at Wimbledon.

In a confidential report for tennis authorities in 2008, the inquiry team said 28 players involved in those games should be investigated but the findings were never followed up, the news organisations said.

Tennis authorities introduced a new anti-corruption code in 2009 but after taking legal advice were told previous corruption offences could not be pursued, they added.

In later years there were repeated alerts sent to the integrity unit about a third of these players. None was disciplined by the TIU, the BBC and BuzzFeed News said.

The BBC and BuzzFeed News were also given the names of other current players they said the TIU has repeatedly been warned about by betting organisations, sports integrity units and professional gamblers.


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4 min read

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Source: Reuters



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