Money talks but when does it scream corruption?
TIU and ATP refute suggestions they failed to act upon BBC and BuzzFeed’s findings
IT is not all that long ago that Wimbledon had a betting booth on site at the All England Club, a throwback to an era when it was considered perfectly fine for players to bet on themselves – or someone else, for that matter.
In the intervening 40 years, tennis has undergone huge modernisation, from racket and ball technology to the huge boost in television viewers that helped to usher in the enormous wealth the sport now enjoys.
But with wealth comes corruption and officials were reeling yesterday after a joint investigation from the BBC and BuzzFeed claimed that tennis authorities had sat on information that many top players, some of them grand slam champions, had been involved in match-fixing.
There were no names – with no phone records or bank statements it is virtually impossible to prove fixing – and there was little new in the report, bar the accusation that one grand slam singles champion was among those implicated.
“I would like to hear the name,” Roger Federer said yesterday. “I would love to hear names. Then at least it’s concrete stuff and you can actually debate about it.
“Was it the player? Was it the support team? Who was it? Was it before? Was it a doubles player, a singles player? Which slam? It’s so all over the place. It’s nonsense to answer something that is pure speculation. It’s super-serious and it’s super-important to maintain the integrity of our sport. So how high up does it go? 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. I just think there’s no place at all for this kind of behaviour and things in our sport. I have no sympathy for those people.”
The report focused on the men’s Tour only, and considering that only three men other than the big four of Novak Djokovic, Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray have won grand slams since 2007, the potential list is a short one.
A total of 16 players who have been ranked in the top 50 and eight players entered in this fortnight’s Australian Open, the report said, had been involved in matches flagged as displaying suspicious betting patterns.
This information was passed on to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), a joint initiative of the International Tennis Federation, the men’s and women’s tours, and the Grand Slam Board set up to tackle betting-related corruption in the sport.
While the BBC and BuzzFeed say it was not acted upon, the TIU said every piece of information is looked into, although irregular betting patterns, in themselves, are not evidence of match-fixing.
The head of the TIU, Nigel Willerton, sat alongside ATP chief Chris Kermode yesterday as the Tours released a joint statement, strongly refuting suggestions that they had suppressed the information.
Djokovic yesterday confirmed he was once offered $200,000 to lose a match in St Petersburg.
The low prize money at Futures Tour and Challenger Tour levels make tennis vulnerable to match fixing and spot fixing, as does the fact that it only takes one player to fix a match.
The timing of the report was aimed to create maximum impact and the smiles usually on show at the Happy Slam were replaced with frowns as officials scurried to offer a response.
It is possible that good work is being done by the TIU behind the scenes but it’s impossible to know because nothing has been said by an organisation lacking transparency and accountability.
“On the basis of the BBC/BuzzFeed exposé tennis is again exposed for both its vulnerability to betting-fraud related match fixing and for its poor choice of structure and process for the so-called Tennis Integrity Unit,” Chris Eaton, the director of integrity at the International Centre of Sports Security, told Herald Sport.
“Integrity is by definition open and transparent. The TIU is neither. If we have learned anything from the continuing and shocking unfolding scandals in international sports such as FIFA and the IAAF, it is that in the global realities of today, sport governing bodies cannot effectively self-regulate in isolation of governments or each other.
“(Tennis) is no different and is in fact more vulnerable than many due to its enormous attraction as a gambling product. Tennis is the third most targeted sport for betting fraud match fixing behind football and cricket.”
The year-long investigation relied heavily on a nine-year-old report surrounding the notorious case involving a match between Russian Nikolay Davydenko and Argentina’s Martin VassaloArguello in Poland, in 2007. Despite damning evidence, nothing was proved against either player but it led to the instigation of the TIU.
The ATP said yesterday that there is a distinction to be made between betting and corruption but with so many bets on offer, especially in-play, the area between the two has become increasingly grey.
If authorities and bookmakers wanted to make a real impact, then in-play betting would be banned, removing the vast majority of spot-fixing opportunities, while betting would also be restricted to the main Tour.
But with so much money in tennis – and with tournaments, including the Australian Open, who partnered with William Hill this year, happy to take the betting dollar, there is too much money for it to be a possibility. IT was a familiar story on day one at Melbourne Park as Heather Watson and Kyle Edmund exited the Australian Open almost before many of their compatriots in Britain were awake to check the scores.
While Andy Murray, Dan Evans and Jo Konta were all due to play overnight, Watson and Edmund were worn down on the tournament’s opening day in gruelling, sultry conditions.
Edmund, in the main draw of the Australian Open for the first time, can look forward to better days after he was beaten in five sets by Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Englishman led by two sets to one but was struggling with cramp from late in the third set and was eventually beaten 1-6, 7-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 by a man ranked five places above him at No.83.
“I’m disappointed with it obviously because it’s not my tennis that’s let me down,” said Edmund, who also faded in similar circumstances in the Davis Cup final. “My tennis is good enough to do it, it’s my body that’s let me down.”
Watson still has doubles to play but she will be livid after throwing away a winning position before going down 6-7, 7-5, 7-5 to Hungary’s Timea Babos, her former doubles partner in juniors.
Showing more of the attacking intent she has been working on with part-time coach Judy Murray, Watson served for the match at 5-4 in the second but lost her way and was edged out in a tense decider.
Day one at the Australian is notorious for upsets and there were plenty more yesterday as former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki went out, while Benoit Paire and Ivo Karlovic were men’s seeds to fall.
Paire was upended 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 by American teenager Noah Rubin, a former junior champion at Wimbledon, who earned his first victory at a grand slam.
The Frenchman described the match as a “catastrophe” but Rubin, who won a wildcard playoff to get his place in the draw, fully deserved his win and now plays another Frenchman, Pierre Hugues-Herbert.
There was no trouble for fivetimes champion Novak Djokovic, who breezed into round two with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over Hyeon ChungofKorea,norforthird seed Roger Federer, a 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 winner over Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia.
Federer is used to cruising through the early rounds of grand slams but is well aware of the danger posed by his next opponent, Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, now ranked 35 but once as high as 13.
“I think it’s going to be very tough, to be honest,” he said. “I’ve practised with Dolgopolov in the off-season in Dubai, we had some great practice sessions together there, this year and last year.
“I know him very well. This is going to be a different challenge to the first round. Dolgopolov is a different player, a different level. He’s been there before. He’s got the fitness, the power, the speed, tennis IQ, all that. It’s going to be a big challenge.”
Any doubts over the fitness of Serena Williams were dispelled as she saw off Italy’s Camila Giorgi 6-4, 7-5.
Out of action since September and struggling on the eve of the event with an inflamed knee, world No.1 Williams, chasing a 22nd grand slam title, moved well and was satisfied enough with her efforts. “It (the knee) is great,” she said. “It was an hour and 43 minutes and I didn’t feel it at all.”
Meanwhile, former champion Maria Sharapova, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska all eased into round two.