Australian Open begins with match-fixing claims

Evidence has been uncovered suggesting that there may have been widespread match fixing at the top level of tennis, according to reports.

ATP president Chris Kermode was responding to the release of details of an investigation by BuzzFeed UK and the BBC that found authorities had taken no action despite repeated warnings of a network of professional players suspected of fixing matches.

“All of the players, including winners of Grand Slam titles, were allowed to continue competing”.

The reports say more than 70 players have been flagged to world tennis authorities over the past decade without being sanctioned in any way.

Tennis looks set to become the latest sport to be dragged through controversy after dramatic information was revealed by BBC Sport and Buzzfeed News on Sunday night. In the program they speak with former police chief Ben Gunn, who believes that the TIU wanted to suppress any indication of match fixing.

The investigation began after a 2007 match between Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko and Argentina’s Martin Vassallo Arguello was deemed highly suspicious. While the report focuses on 16 players who have ranked in the top 50 with a number matches that had highly suspicious betting patterns, they don’t name any of the suspected cheats, “because without access to phone, bank, or computer records it is not possible to prove a link between the players and the gamblers”.

“As a result, no new investigations into any of the players who were mentioned in the 2008 report were opened”, Willerton said. The players have all been ranked in the top 50.

Just weeks after the evidence was turned over to tennis’ governing bodies, Bill Babcock, then head of the International Tennis Federation’s Grand Slam committee, said tennis was “healthy” and there was no corruption inside the sport.

BuzzFeed UK investigations editor Heidi Blake told ABC News 24, “We can see the same 16 names appearing time and time again on those lists”.

The effectiveness of the Tennis Integrity Unit is being seriously called into question tonight.

Russian and Italian gambling syndicates are said to have made vast profits by placing highly-suspicious bets on scores of matches, including a number at Wimbledon and the French Open.