It is an epidemic that has been casting a black cloud over tennis for a considerable amount of time. Match-fixing or illegal gambling is one of the most problematic issues for tennis, especially in lower level tournaments. Now the people behind the scandals are becoming more blatant than ever before following an investigation by Spanish sports website Marca.com.
A group of 20-40 people attends ITF events in Spain reguarly, saying that they are fans of the ITF women’s circuit. Their reason for attending is legitimate and there is nothing suspicious until more attention is spent on the group. They come prepared with mobile phones, laptops and PDA’s. Their mission is to capitalize on a gambling loophole that they have identified.
Between the moment the players win the point to the time it appears on the official livescore, there is a 20-30 second gap. The gap is enough time for the group to manipulate the gambling to their advantage before the score is updated. The group has no fear of being approached by the tournament officials.
“Hey! I’ll give you 5,000 euros if you lose this game with your service“. One member shouted during a match.
The extent of the problem has led to death threats over social media networks to officials, players and staff at the tournaments. During an Spanish ITF Women’s $10,000 event in June, a group of 30 were evicted. The eviction was short-lived due to a legal loophole which states that the group had to be accepted back the following day. To aid their bets, they try to bribe the players. One Marca source reported that one player was offered 500 euros to participate in one bet.
One of the most troublesome incidents occurred two weeks ago. In the men’s ITF $10,000 event at the Ciudad La Raqueta in Madrid, officials alerted authorities about a group who allegedly bet 80,000 euros. They said that players ‘were living in fear‘ after recieving threats during the tournament.
Not just a Spanish problem
The incidents uncovered by Marca are worrying, but not uncommon. Last year Danish media reported that player’s were offered up to 30000 kroner ($5402.87) during two ITF events in Denmark. It is understood that the players were contacted by phone and social media. In addition, former top 50 player Oscar Hernandez, said last year that he is ‘100% sure that match-fixing occurs in tennis’. More recently Belgium has launched an internal investigation into tennis match-fixing due to ‘suspicious betting patterns’.
The issue is a worldwide headache for the tennis federation’s due to the amount of tournament’s played. The sport of the third most bet on sport in the world, explaining why is it such an issue. The issue appears harmless until somebody’s life is threatened, an situation which is becoming a common scenario in lower ranked tennis competitions.
