Tennis bosses must act on match fixing allegations

JACK MILNER

The statement, however, sounded too much like Richard Nixon’s famous “I am not a crook” comment.

How prevalent match fixing is, is difficult to determine, but it’s like the elephant in the room: there is match fixing in the sport.

Obviously when Roger Federer plays Novak Djokovic in an Australian Open semifinal, neither player will rush off to the on-site betting office to have a punt on his opponent.

In an article in the Sunday Times this past weekend, the blame for this scourge is placed squarely on the tennis organisers as the writer of the article quite correctly claims that players ranked outside the top 100 battle to make a living out of the sport.

Many see tennis as this glamorous sport with players jet-setting all over the world, but while the top players are treated like royalty, those who participate in Challengers and satellites, battle.

I remember a journeyman American doubles player who shared a room at a dump in Earl’s Court with a South African player during Wimbledon, saying the highlight of the tour for him is arriving at Southfields station with all his gear and everybody gawking at him to see if they could recognise him.

“Don’t they realise that if I were anybody, I wouldn’t be on the underground and would certainly not have to walk that mile and a bit from the station to the courts? But at least it makes me feel important.”

South African Chris Haggard found himself in Uzbekistan at a tournament and did not have enough money at the end of the tournament to buy a plane ticket out of the country. At the time Israeli Noam Behr, who was a good friend, offered to lend him money so they could fly to Israel and play the tournament in Ramat Hasharon.

It turned out to be a lucky break for Chris as he made the finals of the singles and won the doubles so he could afford to fly on to the next event!

So, these journeymen have to find a way to earn a living and betting often offers a way out.

While the ATP is in denial, at the present Australian Open a mixed doubles game has come into question. An online bookmaker suspended betting on a match in which Lukasz Kubot and Andrea Hlavackova beat David Marrero and Lara Arruabarrena 6-0, 6-3. Most of the money was placed on Spain’s Marrero and Arruabarrena to lose.

All four players, when interviewed by the Tennis Integrity Unit, denied the possibility of match-fixing. Marrero blamed a knee injury for the pair’s poor display.

Online bookmaker Pinnacle suspended betting before the match and notified local police.

Poland’s Kubot, 33 and Czech partner Hlavackova, 29, said they had never been approached by the TIU before and said they were unaware of anything unusual or irregular about the match.

“It’s not very comfortable to think we didn’t win the match on our terms,” said Hlavackova. “We played our best, we did very well and we won.”

At the same time there is a court case going on in Australia in which a former rising star of Australian tennis, Nick Lindahl, is accused of attempting to fix a match. At the trial the police claimed he had told them: “This is what tennis players do.”

Lindahl, 27, allegedly asked a junior player for a bribe to throw a match and then tipped off two men who placed bets on the contest. Police allege Lindahl, who beat Australian tennis number one Bernard Tomic in 2009, told opponent Andrew Corbitt through a third party that he would “tank” their match at the 2013 Toowoomba Futures Six tournament if the junior player paid him.

It is then alleged Lindahl told Ryan Wolfenden and Matthew Fox he was going to lose the match and they went off to bet on Corbitt to win – which Corbitt did 6-2, 6-3 – and they reported the alleged bribe to officials, prompting an investigation by the Tennis Integrity Unit as well as Victorian and NSW police.

Where there’s betting, there will be match fixing and at the Australian Open one needs to walk no further than the betting tent at Melbourne Park to put money down for a bet.

Roger Federer is right when he says it is time to name and shame those players. “I would love to hear names,” said Federer. “Then at least it’s concrete stuff and you can actually debate it. Was it the player? Was it the support team? Who was it? Was it before? Was it a doubles player, a singles player? Which Slam?

“It’s super serious and it’s super important to maintain the integrity of our sport,” Federer added. “So how high up does it go? The higher it goes, the more surprised I would be.”

Tennis authorities need to ensure that like golf, many more people are able to earn a living from the sport, and not to bury their heads in the sand as they have done over drug cheats.