Another sports betting scandal, this time in tennis

[The Buzz]

Betfair shut down betting on a match between the world's third-ranked player, Nikolay Davydenko, and 87th-ranked Martin Vassallo when some suspiscious betting patterns came in, with a lot of money ending up on the underdog.

Davydenko ended up retiring in the third set due to injury.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/s...-12428,00.html

[The Buzz]

The ATP is now seeking guidance from the British Horseracing Authority to see how it should proceed with its investigation ...

Scroll down a bit, it's after the Lindsey Davenport stuff ...

http://www.nhregister.com/site/news....d=566835&rfi=6

[Amateur]

I heard about this. It seems pretty obvious Daveydenko was in on this. Pretty simple to "fix" tennis, since only 1 player has to be involved. Easy money.

[TheGooner]

Most bookmakers simply VOID bets on a tennis match if a player retires.
All stakes returned.

[The Buzz]

An update on this strange case ... with quotes from the player in question in broken English. At least as the guy questions in his own language and let him speak through an interpreter.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-...ck=1&cset=true

[The Buzz]

Buzzy doesn't speak French, so he had to read the summary of the article in South Africa's Times. Regardless, the story interviews at least two players who say internet betting on tennis matches by people on the ATP is rampant, and that 60-80 percent of the coaches are making bets on matches, even at the Internet terminals in the players' lounges.

“I know several players who have been approached, and who had the exact same experience as me,” said one player, identified only as Mister B and who claimed he had been approached physically by someone offering him 50,000 dollars to lose a match.


He added: “Not for one second did I believe it was a joke. 50,000 dollars is more than what I would have got for getting to the semi-final in this tournament, and it was tax-free cash.


“I refused his offer straight away, but I was left wondering what direction we’re going in."

https://www.gpwa.org/forum/newreply....ote=1&p=492995

It will be interesting to see how the ATP handles this, especially in the wake of the Donaghy scandal in the NBA

[The Buzz]

In response to the story in L'Equipe, an ATP spokesman has said that the tennis assocation will have zero tolerance for any match fixing scandals.

The association is also close to signing agreements with at least 10 more online gambling operators to identify suspiscious betting patterns.

http://www.bookmakersreview.com/c/Ne...rnet_gambling/

[The Buzz]

This is the only response that they could possibly have ...

``As far as we are concerned, if you are involved with match-fixing, then you will be thrown out of the sport -- that's it,'' said Etienne de Villiers, executive chairman of the ATP Tour. ``It's definitely a threat we take very, very, very seriously.''

Interesting news about Davydenko, who started the whole controversy ... seems he's losing more matches, and he's being warned by umpires for not giving his best effort.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...ibo&refer=home

Buzzy doesn't have any first-hand knowledge, but these sound like the actions of a man with some gambling debts.

[The Buzz]

No official word yet on Davydenko, but Alessio Di Mauro, ranked 124th in the world, has been suspended for nine months by the ATP for betting on matches with an online bookmaker. He never bet on his own matches, according to the investigation.

Di Mauro was found to have wagered on the matches of other players from Nov. 2, 2006, through June 12 of this year. The tour's investigation found that he didn't attempt to bet on his own matches, nor did he try to fix a match.

The ATP Tour didn't elaborate on Di Mauro's actions in a statement announcing the suspension. The Associated Press reported that he placed 120 bets with an online bookmaker.

``This ruling underlines the ATP's stated policy of not tolerating players, associates or staff gambling on tennis,'' said Gayle David Bradshaw, the tour's administrator for rules and competition.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...Uo0&refer=home

[The Buzz]

More on this from the Telegraph ... and more allegations.

The reputation of tennis was back under the spotlight yesterday after the world No 32, Philipp Kohlschreiber, was forced to deny allegations that he was involved in match-fixing.

With the sport already reeling from a series of corruption claims and the Martina Hingis drugs affair, a German newspaper published fresh allegations linking the Davis Cup player with abnormal betting patterns on internet gambling websites.

Die Welt alleged that Kohlschreiber was one of a group of around 30 players from Germany, Argentina, Italy and Russia who were involved in throwing matches. But Kohlschreiber fiercely denied the claims last night and said: "I am shocked, these unfair and scandalous accusations are a slur on my name and reputation as a player.

"I am a professional sportsman and I always play to win. I have strictly nothing to hide, I am at the disposal of the German confederation and ATP to answer all their questions."

And Di Maurer claims that the ATP is making him a scapegoat and that his penalty is much too harsh.

"The sentence is too harsh," said Di Mauro. "Match-fixing is much more serious than betting. There's a big difference between someone who has a 'vice' for betting on many sports - from soccer to basketball to volleyball and sometimes also on tennis - and someone who sells matches.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mai.../stbond112.xml

[The Buzz]

Not much new information, but some good quotes on this whole scandal in a recent story on bloomberg.com ...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...7qrR4&refer=us

Patrick McEnroe, the U.S. Davis Cup captain, said today that the match-fixing allegations ``are more a threat than a problem'' and that the sport's leaders were correct to investigate. He also said he wouldn't be surprised if matches at ``a lower level, where the winnings are lower,'' might have been fixed.

``It's a relatively easy game to manipulate, because there are only two players and if one decides to manipulate the outcome there's not much that can be done,'' McEnroe said in an interview.

[The Buzz]

This year's Australian Open will have an anti-corruption unit to battle match fixing.

Australian Open organizers established an anti-corruption commission and appointed an investigator to combat gambling and potential match-fixing at the season-opening Grand Slam tennis tournament.

Tennis Australia said today it would also set up a telephone hotline to report alleged corruption, ban the unauthorized use of laptop computers courtside and increase restrictions on access to players.

"We don't believe our sport has a corruption problem but we do recognize that a threat to the integrity of tennis exists,'' Tennis Australia Chief Executive Officer Steve Wood said in an e-mailed statement.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...efer=australia

[The Buzz]

This year's Australian Open will have an anti-corruption unit to battle match fixing.

And they've gone to pretty good lengths to put this together ... read about it, and player reaction, here in the NY Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/sp.../15tennis.html

[Fortune Palace]

If you read the Sports Arb betting forums, tennis is notorious as one of the most corrupt sports there is. And because different bookmakers have different criteria for how and when to pay out when a player retires, there are more arbs to be found.

Not that I understand how it works! But I was a little shocked to see how rife people consider cheating in tennis to be.

But how do you police it? How does a player prove he or she is in too much pain to continue?

Nearly impossible, I reckon...

[The Buzz]

An independent review is taking a close look at 45 matches to see if the matches may have been fixed.

Saying tennis is "potentially at a crossroads," an independent review panel found 45 matches that merit further investigation because of irregular betting patterns and offered a host of recommendations to the sport's leaders for combatting corruption.

The panel's 66-page report, prompted in part by suspicions surrounding a match last year involving fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko, was released Monday by the International Tennis Federation, the ATP, the WTA Tour and the four Grand Slams.

The 45 unidentified matches, played in the last five years, were among 73 examined by the panel, which warned of "inside information."

"We do not doubt that criminal elements may be involved in seeking to subvert or corrupt some players or players' support staff; that may even involve organized criminal gangs, but to elevate that suspicion to a claim of 'Mafia' involvement is, in our view, a distortion of the facts and is positively damaging to the sport," the report said.

Meanwhile, Davydenko and his agent are getting tired of hearing all the accusations.

"The name 'Davydenko' is being abused," his manager, Ronnie Leitgeb, said Monday from Poertschach, Austria, where the Russian is playing. "If his name keeps coming up in rumors and nothing has been proven in the upcoming two or three months, we'll consider taking legal action."

Besides noting the 45 matches to be investigated further, the review panel made 15 recommendations that the sport's four governing bodies accepted — including "any player caught cheating should be punished by a lengthy suspension for a first offense and, if the circumstances merit it, a life ban." They also agreed to have a uniform anti-corruption program and an integrity unit.

The report also examines the practice of "tanking," which it defines as "a player not giving 'best efforts' in a match." While no specific recommendations were made, the report did "urge officials to be alert to such activity and to deal with it as a break of the rules whenever such behavior can be proved."

Another of the recommendations allows only players and essential tournament personnel to have access to the locker rooms at tournaments. The report said many believe that insider knowledge, such as a player's injury or illness that is not widely known, gets passed on to bettors.

Full story here ... http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/...s-Gambling.php

[The Buzz]

After a year-long investigation, the ATP has said it can find on evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Nikolay Davydenko.

The ATP said it found no evidence of wrongdoing by Davydenko or his opponent, Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina, or anyone else associated with their match in Sopot, Poland, on Aug. 2, 2007.


"The ATP has now exhausted all avenues of inquiry open to it and the investigation is now concluded," the ATP said in a statement.


"This is a big relief for Nikolay," Davydenko's agent Ronnie Leitgeb told ESPN on Friday. "It was a nightmare for him."


Leitgeb said he gave Davydenko the news Friday and Davydenko said "all the world can now see I did nothing wrong."

Full story here ... http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/ten...ory?id=3583444