A media investigation alleging that tennis isn’t doing enough to catch match fixers dominated the debut hours of the Australian Open Monday, drawing heated denials from officials of the sport. You know, I read yesterday about some of the sort of gambling people in Sicily, which, you know, I wasn’t aware of that.
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The head of the Tennis Integrity Unit, which was established in the wake of the 2008 probe, told Buzzfeed that evidence of suspected wrongdoing was shelved because lawyers had advised them that a new integrity code could not be enforced retroactively.
Critics, who say the relationship sends out the wrong message, have called on Tennis Australia to end it and Djokovic said there should at least be a debate.
At a press conference Monday, ATP President Chris Kermode denied that officials had sought to cover up suspected improprieties.
Djokovic does not think match-fixing is prevalent at the top level of tennis and says there is “no real proof” of fixing among the elite. “So I think we have to keep it that way”. The report by BBC about match-fixing in professional tennis just adds to the theory that professional sports are corrupt, and hopefully for the sake of the sport that more information is able to surface and those who are responsible can be banned from tennis.
Path Finding that extra gear when required is one of the factors that have helped Roger Federer to 17 grand slam singles titles but the Swiss barely needed to move out of first in his opening match against Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili. However, one of the investigators, Mark Phillips, told the BBC, “There was a core of about 10 players that we believed were the most common perpetrators, that were at the root of the problem really”.
“People are talking about names, guessing who these players are guessing those names”.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has revealed he was indirectly approached with a $US200,000 offer to throw a match in 2007. “There’s more pressure on these people now maybe because of this story, which is a good thing”, Federer said.
The BBC and BuzzFeed News obtained secret files that contained evidence of suspected match-fixing in tennis.
Halys impressed in defeating world No. 78 Ivan Dodig as an underdog in round-one but this is a totally different challenge against one of the greatest players that the sport has ever seen.
“Of course, there is no room for any match fixing or corruption in our sport”.
Speaking in Melbourne following his first-round win at the Australian Open, Murray said tennis authorities needed to be on the front foot on the issue of match-fixing.
“I’ve been aware of the issue since I was quite young”. I think my serve is something that I take out from today’s match as the best part of my game.
The Australian Open’s first round, featuring 256 men’s and women’s singles players, concludes on Tuesday which is day two of the tournament at Melbourne Park.
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In November the ITF, which puts on the Davis and Fed Cup, announced a three-year sponsorship deal with online betting company Betway and the Australian Open has sponsorship deals with William Hill. “Obviously he spends a lot of time up at the net so he knows where to position himself and makes it tough for you, so it will be a tough match”.
