Three guilty of fixing matches

Three Australian tennis players have been found guilty of corruption by the sport’s international integrity watchdog, only days after another promising junior was charged with match fixing.

A Tennis Integrity Unit investigation also revealed that the only confirmed criminal case of match fixing in Australia was significantly wider than was first thought, raising further questions about the conduct of the nation’s young tennis players.

The TIU confirmed in a statement that Nick Lindahl, Brandon Walkin and Isaac Frost were all found to have committed corruption offences in relation to a match at a tournament in Toowoomba in 2013.

Lindahl, 28, was banned for seven years and fined US$35,000 (NZ$50,000) for his role in the fix, which occurred at a Futures tournament in Toowoomba in September, 2013.

Walkin, 22, was hit with a sixmonth suspension, suspended for six months, and Frost, 28, with a year suspension, which he has already served.

Lindahl and another former player, Matthew Fox, are the only people to have faced criminal charges in connection with the fixed match. Both were convicted. A coach and another player, Adam Feeney, were also linked to the case, but they were never charged.

The involvement of Walkin and Frost, neither of whom had been highly-ranked but who regularly played in tournaments in Australia and internationally, indicates that at least five players were aware of Lindahl’s match fixing.

It was revealed last week that Oliver Anderson, the reigning Australian Open boys champion, had been charged by Victoria Police with match fixing offences in relation to a tournament in Traralgon last October.

It is understood Anderson was approached to drop the opening set of his first-round match at the tournament.