Tennis stars ask why is courtside gambling OK?

The BBC and Buzzfeed News published reports Monday alleging match-fixing had gone unchecked in tennis.

Andy Murray Tuesday urged tennis authorities to be proactive in the fight against corruption after match-fixing claims hit the sport – and blasted a betting company’s sponsorship of the Australian Open. The investigation claimed that 16 top players were allowed to play despite being repeatedly flagged by the Tennis Integrity Unit, an internal watchdog monitoring suspicious activity.

Unlike number one player Novak Djokovic who admitted that he was once offered to fix a match earlier in his career, Murray said that he has not received any offer.

Djokovic does not think match-fixing is prevalent at the top level of tennis and says there is “no real proof” of fixing among the elite.

“I’ve been aware of it since I was quite young and I think when people come with big sums of money when you’re at that age, some people can make mistakes”, Murray said.

After his straight-sets win over German Alexander Zverev, the British No 1 said: “It’s been a long time since she has not been with me at a Slam as well so that’s a bit different. I don’t know how, just, you know I was closing the eyes and everything was coming in and I keep doing it and I was doing well”.

As Milos Raonic said of the shadow cast over the tournament, “It’s a little bit, sorry for the language, sh–y to read that and sort of see that the attention of the first Grand Slam of the year is more on that than I think the Australian Open”. I’ve heard about certain matches where something might have been going on, I’ve watched them and watched replays of them, and as a player, I’ve thought “that doesn’t look right”. “I’m happy if they won’t end up being on this court, actually”, Federer said after his second-round win over Alexandr Dolgopolov.

“I don’t understand how it all works”.

“We have comprehensive information sharing agreements to inform the sport’s integrity bodies, and for the sport to promote licensed operators is key to ensuring transparency”.

The grand slam-winning star also stressed that the problem of match-fixing was not specific to tennis.

Maria Sharapova became the first player to advance to the third round at the Australian Open when she beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-2, 6-1.

He said he did not approve of gambling on tennis matches. “Any time someone is beating Venus they are more than likely playing really good”.

The No. 45-ranked Verdasco was still basking in his victory over the 14-time Grand Slam victor when asked, in English, at his post-match news conference about the match-fixing allegations. Having enough evidence to prosecute – from what I’ve been told – is very hard.

“It shows certainly to me that he’s ready, which is no real surprise because he’s been a master at that over the last few years.

It was an incredible moment to be in the final of this event again”, said Sharapova, who played her first-round match on Margaret Court Arena, one of three e two other covered stadiums at Melbourne Park.

“I think there’s just one avenue to go to”, Haase said.