£340k RIDING ON BRIT UNDERDOG
he was unaware of anything unusual around the match, calling the betting revelations ‘unbelievable’.
He said: ‘i didn’t know anything about it. it is indescribable. My mates called about it and i didn’t believe them. i don’t do any kind of betting and i don’t even know how to play poker or slot machines.
‘i have never seen Berlocq in my life and all i know about him are some results. He is a clay-court player but i couldn’t tell you anything else about the guy. i just went out and played my game — i can’t believe i am talking about something like this. As far i’m concerned i beat him fair and square. i don’t want the win to be overshadowed.’
Bloomfield, now 32, said nobody from the tennis authorities spoke to him about any concerns on the day of the match. it is not clear if they followed up later. He was unavailable for comment when contacted by Sportsmail yesterday at the norfolk school where he now works as a tennis coach.
After he beat Rochus in America, he said he was as perplexed about the betting as he had been at Wimbledon. ‘i’m a guy who has never had a bet on anything in my life,’ he said.
Two more of the Wimbledon matches featured italian players — Filippo Volandri and Potito starace — who have both come under scrutiny on multiple occasions for involvement in matches with irregular betting.
Volandri, 34, was cited more than any other player in a dossier of matches with strange bettingetting patterns, compiled for the ATP in 2008.
starace, also 34,, was banned for life last year by the italian Tennis Federation for match-fixing offences, although the ban was lifted on appeal.
Volandri’s three- set defeat by Wayne Arthurss at Wimbledon in 200505 sparked a probe after heavyeavy betting on the Australian.an The same year starace lost in three sets in sW19 to Belgium’s Gilles elseneer, who later alleged he had been offered $100,000 (£70,000 at today’s rates) to lose that match. it is unclear if the investigations reached a conclusion but none has been made public.
The fourth Wimbledon match confirmed by Sportsmail as being probed by the authorities took place in 2009 between Austria’s Jurgen Melzer, who has been ranked as high as no 8 in the world, and an American, Wayne Odesnik, who peaked at no 77.
Sportsmail can reveal an investigation by the TiU took anti-corruption officers to several countries, seeking explanations for extraordinary betting patterns on Odesnik’s straight-sets defeat.
six-figure sums were wagered on the specific 3-0 scoreline hours before the match started, hundreds of times the levels expected. secret TiU documents seen by Sportsmail show Odesnik turned whistleblower for the authorities after that incident and after being caught with performanceenhancing drugs. He was recently banned for 15 years for the latest serious drugs offence of his career. Sportsmail is not aware of any evidence to implicate Melzer in any wrongdoing. A variety of other matches at the All englandengla Club over the years have been central to strange bettingbett movements but were notno subject to formal probes.p
‘irregular’ betting can beb triggered for reasons as mundane as injury news about a player or a particularp individual gamblerg having one big puntpu for a perfectly legitimate ma reason. An All england Club spokesmanspoke told Sportsmail yesterday: ‘As part of the tennis family, Wimbledon underlined the sport’s zero-tolerance approach to all aspects of corruption. Tennis remains committed to meeting the challenge all sports face from corrupt betting practices. We have stringent procedures and sanctions in place to deal with any suspected corruption and have shown we will act decisively when our integrity rules are broken.’ BRiTisH coach Dave sammel yesterday revealed two of his players on the fringes on the main tour had been approached to throw matches. sammel says Richard Gabb, ranked no 324, and scott Clayton, no 372, were at a minor Futures tournament in Turkey two years ago when asked to fix a match by Russian player Andrey Kumantsov, who was later banned for life after the Britons, and others, reported his activity.