Documents apparently showing evidence of widespread suspected match-fixing in the world of professional tennis have been leaked to the BBC and Buzzfeed News.
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Novak Djokovic, the world’s top tennis player, says he was offered £100,000 to throw a match ten years ago, fuelling the debate over recent claims of match fixing in the sport. All these players, including Grand Slam Winners, were allowed to continue to compete.
ATP, which runs the men’s tour, and the sport’s anti-corruption body, the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), as well as Tennis Australia firmly rejected suggestions that any evidence was deliberately suppressed.
“But at a small tournament the following week, how could anyone prove that a top 50 player didn’t lose because they were exhausted or injured”.
The reports said a 2007 probe by the ATP found that betting rings in Russian Federation and Italy made hundreds of thousands of dollars betting on matches that investigators believed to be fixed.
“One source we were talking to had reported five matches of a player in the previous year – some of those are very, very important, prestigious tournaments – and this is a high-ranking player. It didn’t even get to me”, he said.
“I would like to hear the name”, said Federer.
However, the tennis authorities have been warned that at least nine of the players who escaped further investigation have continued to play in suspicious matches even after the new code took effect. But there’s no real proof or evidence yet of any active players, for that matter. “As long as it’s like that, it’s just speculation”. The higher it goes, the more surprised I would be, no doubt about it. Not about people being approached, but just people doing it in general.
TIU chief Nigel Willerton said “everything that comes into the unit is actioned, it’s assessed”.
“I think he has been unguarded and naive”, said Castle in 2007.
Both Federer and defending champion Djokovic strolled through their opening matches in Melbourne, but were inevitably asked about the story rocking the sport.
The report claims all of the 16 players have ranked in the world’s top 50 and more than half were playing in the Australian Open first round.
Federer said it was “so easy” to make such allegations.
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With the Australian Open starting today, all the talk around corruption and crimes in tennis has opened a can of worms which might takeover the first grand slam of the year.
