Tennis Match Fixing: New Documents Reveal Potentially Shady Deals

(Image credit: The Guardian)

The Guardian reports that BBC and BuzzFeed uncovered a “cache of documents” that have reports dating all the way back to 2007, exposing tennis match fixing on a large scale. The files reveal “widespread suspected match-fixing at the top level of world tennis, including at Wimbledon. Over the past decade, 16 players who have ranked in the top 50 have been repeatedly flagged to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) over suspicions they have thrown matches.”

The chief executive of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Chris Kermode, strongly denied any indication that TIU has covered-up any cases of tennis match fixing. “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,” said Kermode.

Nonetheless, the head of the ATP stressed they intend to proceed with investigations into possible incidents of tennis match fixing – events that may have taken places some ten years ago. The Tennis Integrity Unit, created by the ATP to “monitor betting patterns,” first has to find evidence to support these claims, before anything is proven to be true. Without having evidence, mere suspicion or hearsay does not qualify as credible information, according to Kermode.

In light of the news, one of the sport’s finest players Novak Djokovic commented that he was indirectly offered $200,000 to fix a match nearly a decade ago. “I was not approached directly. Well… I was approached through people that were working with me at that time, that were with my team. Of course, we threw it away right away. If didn’t even get to me, the guy that was trying to talk to me, he didn’t even get to me directly. There was nothing out of it,” said the 10-time Grand Slam player, per The Guardian.

He added assurances that there is no room for incidents involving tennis match fixing, saying, “Of course, there is no room for any match-fixing or corruption in our sport. We’re trying to keep it as clean as possible. We have, I think, a sport that has evolved, and have upgraded our programs and authorities to deal with these particular cases.”