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Are Elite Tennis Players Fixing Matches?
Topic Started: Jan 18 2016, 03:17 AM (52 Views)
Webster
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Buzzfeed: The Tennis Racket

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Secret files exposing evidence of widespread match-fixing by players at the upper level of world tennis can today be revealed by BuzzFeed News and the BBC.

The sport’s governing bodies have been warned repeatedly about a core group of 16 players – all of whom have ranked in the top 50 – but none have faced any sanctions and more than half of them will begin playing at the Australian Open on Monday.

It has been seven years since world tennis authorities were first handed compelling evidence about a network of players suspected of fixing matches at major tournaments including Wimbledon following a landmark investigation, but all of them have been allowed to continue playing.

The investigation into men’s tennis by BuzzFeed News and the BBC is based on a cache of leaked documents from inside the sport – the Fixing Files – as well as an original analysis of the betting activity on 26,000 matches and interviews across three continents with gambling and match-fixing experts, tennis officials, and players.

The files contain detailed evidence of suspected match-fixing orchestrated by gambling syndicates in Russia and Italy, which was uncovered in the landmark 2008 probe, and which authorities subsequently shelved.

“They could have got rid of a network of players that would have almost completely cleared the sport up,” said Mark Phillips, one of the investigators. “We gave them everything tied up with a nice pink bow on top and they took no action at all.”

BuzzFeed News began its investigation after devising an algorithm to analyse gambling on professional tennis matches over the past seven years. It identified 15 players who regularly lost matches in which heavily lopsided betting appeared to substantially shift the odds – a red flag for possible match-fixing.

Four players showed particularly unusual patterns, losing almost all of these red-flag matches. Given the bookmakers’ initial odds, the chances that the players would perform that badly were less than 1 in 1,000. (Read more about the analysis here.)

Tennis is the latest sport to be caught up in allegations of corruption following the scandals that have engulfed world football and athletics.

It can today be revealed: (1)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. (2)One top-50 player competing in the Australian Open is suspected of repeatedly fixing his first set. (3)Players are being targeted in hotel rooms at major tournaments and offered $50,000 or more per fix by corrupt gamblers. (4)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, (and) (5)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.

-Read more: http://www.buzzfeed.com/heidiblake/the-tennis-racket#.rjBmvkmML
...thoughts?
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Ste_Macca
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Seems no sport is safe anymore
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Webster
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Ste_Macca
Jan 25 2016, 03:53 PM
Seems no sport is safe anymore
Unfortunately so......it wouldn't surprise me, though, if this pans out: tennis is one of the few sports were match-fixing can be done w/out a lot of untoward attention. :O :blink: :O :blink: :O
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