With the sudden and shocking news breaking from Australia of alleged match fixing on the pro tennis circut, it has got me wondering if this really is a deeply rooted problem in tennis, or whether it is just a sad one-off.
One man from Melbourne has been charged with match fixing, after allegedly rigging matches in Australia and overseas. A 27 year old man was bailed on two charges of using corrupt conduct information for betting purposes and drug offenses, whislt five other men were also questioned in connection with a betting syndicate but were released pending further investigations.
The investigation centres around the allegation that a number of tennis matches had bets placed on them, where the outcome was pre-determined by one of the players involved in the match. It is understood that these matches are NOT part of the ATP tour, or the Australian Open.
So, this got me wondering if this is something that happens a lot in tennis. It's the first time I've come across it here, but of course there have been allegations in other sports too. What do I think? it's very tricky to gauge accurately, however, there have been some very odd matches taking place, not in the direct recent weeks, but in the past months.
What do I mean? Well, some of the matches I've been intrigued by have started with the "favourite" winning the first set, and then all of a sudden losing the match, and more often than not the last set is a 6-0/6-1 scoreline. Of course this could be pure co-incidence, and no way am I going to be naming names of anyone playing in these matches, but surfice to say the results did seem bizarre. As an avid tennis fan (and writer) it saddens me to think this can go on still these days, especially if one of the players in the match knows that it will happen and they are making more money from losing this way than by actually trying to win. I can understand the temptation, as the prize money on the lower tours (again, not saying this has been happening on them) is very poor compared to the ATP tour and the slams.
I guess at some point, there was bound to be some scandal in the tennis world, after all, cycling had its drugs revelation, cricket had its own match fixing allegations to name just a couple of sports. It's a very sad time for tennis if this is true, and I sincerely hope that Australian tennis is true to its word and puts a stop to it before it spreads too far, as I believe this would severely damage the reputation of tennis and the ATP tour (you just know that people would start wondering if it was happening in those matches too!)