Integrity concerns highlighted in report
Professional tennis has a ‘‘serious integrity problem,’’ an independent task force has reported after a near three-year, multimillion-dollar investigation into match-fixing and betting problems that have plagued the lower tiers of the sport.
Scrapping official live scoring data at the lowest levels and taking a far harder line on ‘‘tanking’’ were among a series of recommendations outlined in the Independent Review of Integrity in Tennis, produced by three prominent lawyers and commissioned after tennis was rocked by claims of match-fixing on the eve of the 2016 Australian Open.
‘‘Today, tennis faces a serious integrity problem,’’ the panel said.
‘‘The nature of the game lends itself to manipulation for betting purposes. There are many contingencies. There is only one player who must act. Detection is difficult, not least because at many lower-level matches there are no spectators and inadequate facilities to protect players from potential corrupters.’’
In an eye-catching summary, the report’s authors concluded that the current incentive structure for professional players ‘‘creates a fertile breeding ground for breaches of integrity’’ and ‘‘the advent of online betting and the sale of official live scoring data have greatly exacerbated the problem’’.
But, crucially, the report found that there was no conspiracy or collusion among the sport’s governing bodies – the ITF, ATP, WTA and the grand slam tournaments – to cover up the integrity issues facing tennis.
‘‘The governing bodies previously committed to implementing and funding the panel’s final recommendations,’’ the authors wrote.
‘‘The panel . . . considers that the sport is well-positioned to address the integrity challenges it faces.’’
Set up in February, 2016, in the wake of BuzzFeed and BBC revealing explosive details of their joint investigation on the eve of the Australian Open that year – including claims there was even corruption among players in the world’s top 50 – the panel released its interim findings in April before the the final report was published in London this week.
The panel has since consulted with tennis’ governing bodies and their watchdog group, the Tennis Integrity Unit, about the implementation of its 12 recommendations.
Tellingly, the report provided a snapshot into the temptations some of the professional players at the lower tiers can confront.
‘‘Only the top 250 to 350 players earn enough money to break even. Yet there are nominally approximately 14,000 ‘professional’ players. The imbalance between prizemoney and the cost of competing places players in an invidious position by tempting them to contrive matches for financial reward.
‘‘Players may be particularly tempted in relation to matches that they intended to ‘tank’ for unrelated reasons – a factor that has been aptly described as the ‘‘seeds of corruption’’ – or in matches that they believe they can win even while contriving to lose games, sets, or points along the way.’’