Report: Tennis Has a Pretty Serious Match-Fixing Problem

On the eve of the Australian Open, BuzzFeed and the BBC have a released a troubling report for the tennis world. Several elite players, including singles and doubles Grand Slam winners, are suspected of participating in widespread match-fixing set up by gambling syndicates in Russia and Italy. The ATP has been on notice that match-fixing was an issue since at least 2008, when a match between Russian Nikolay Davydenko and Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello prompted such disproportionate betting that a full-scale investigation was launched. Davydenko was the superior player, and his ranking reflected it, but all the betting went Arguello's way. Davydenko eventually, and rather suspiciously, retired due to injury and Arguello won the match.

BuzzFeed and the BBC obtained leaked internal documents from the sport, and performed their own analysis of betting behavior on over 26,000 matches worldwide. Among the findings in the report:

• Winners of singles and doubles titles at Grand Slam tournaments are among the core group of 16 players who have repeatedly been reported for losing games when highly suspicious bets have been placed against them.

• One top-50 player competing in the Australian Open is suspected of repeatedly fixing his first set.

• Players are being targeted in hotel rooms at major tournaments and offered $50,000 or more per fix by corrupt gamblers.

• Gambling syndicates in Russia and Italy have made hundreds of thousands of pounds placing highly suspicious bets on scores of matches – including at Wimbledon and the French Open.

• The names of more than 70 players appear on nine leaked lists of suspected fixers who have been flagged up to the tennis authorities over the past decade without being sanctioned.

Of those 70 players across nine lists, 16 names repeatedly show up. The report does not name names, however, "because without access to phone, bank, or computer records it is not possible to prove a link between the players and the gamblers." The Tennis Integrity Unit—which was established after the Davydenko-Arguello incident—has the authority to demand these documents from the players, but it has not done so.

The report is a deep dive into the current issue—made possible by the information and names unearthed during the investigation into the Davydenko-Arguello match—and you should definitely read the whole thing so you can learn about shady Italian gamblers saying things to the reporters like "You can make me an offer," and "and then maybe I can tell you many more things." Through pursuing that case, investigators were able to uncover widespread match-fixing and had what they considered to be evidence "as strong as any evidence" they had in their long careers in this field.

Nothing ever came of it, however, because the TIU, as it was formed, was not necessarily toothless, but the people running the show—particularly Jeff Rees, a former cop who founded the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption department—seemed disinclined to use whatever teeth they did have. Rees went so far as to send a letter warning investigators that they were courting libel suits by continuing to investigate these players. The match-fixing is clearly a problem, but the real problem appears to be Tennis's governing body's unwillingness to do anything about.

[BuzzFeed and BBC]