World tennis authorities issued a statement Monday from the Australian Open rejecting “any suggestion that evidence of match fixing has been suppressed for any reason”, CNN reported.
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A bombshell report alleging widespread corruption in tennis cast a shadow over the start of the Australian Open on Monday as officials vigorously denied suppressing evidence of match-fixing. In its investigations, the Tennis Integrity Unit has to find evidence as opposed to information, suspicion or hearsay.
Tennis authorities held a joint news conference at Melbourne Park to refute reports from the BBC and Buzzfeed News that match-fixing had gone unchecked in tennis. Tennis players Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic also said that they haven’t seen indication of corruption in the top level of the sport.
“I think that it is on an incredibly small level and it is our business going forward that we keep acting upon this in the best possible way”.
Meanwhile, according to the report, all of the accused players, including winners of grand slam titles, were allowed to continue competing.
Over the last ten years, as many as sixteen players have been “repeatedly flagged” to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), over concerns they may be purposefully losing matches.
The files contain detailed evidence of suspected match-fixing orchestrated by gambling syndicates in Russian Federation and Italy, which was uncovered in the landmark 2008 probe, and which authorities subsequently shelved.
Djokovic, who said he rejected an indirect offer of money to fix a match in 2006, said he was not aware of any match-fixing at the top of the sport.
“It’s a one-on-one sport and what you do is, you’re the favorite and you get a few other people to load up on the other player to win and then you throw the match”. There were three matches at Wimbledon that they had highlighted and it wasn’t just that there were unusual betting patterns.
None of the “core group” of 16 players had faced sanctions, added the report, which was based on secret files leaked by a group of anonymous whistle-blowers.
Many sports have suffered corruption scandals in the past 12 months, but the clean image of tennis is now at risk due to the latest reports.
‘Of course, we threw it away right away.
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The 10-time Grand Slam champion added that it was “borderline” to have a betting company sponsoring this year’s Australian Open, a move which has caused disquiet in some quarters. “I play very hard and every player I play seems to play hard”. Two of the most higher-profile players former top-50 players Daniele Bracciali and Potito Starace were initially banned for life before their suspensions were lifted by the Italian Tennis Federation.
