Matchfixing in tennis: 8 AO contestants implicated

[Denis]

here is the story:



http://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/35319202



Does anyone have an idea who they are?

 

[britbox]

This is going to be big....

Tennis Integrity Unit to issue a statement on Monday. I assume Australian time, so should be in a few hours.

A couple of sources I just read on Google have implicated "Grand Slam winners" without naming specific names.

 

[Carol]

Nothing new about Davydenko, but we'll who are the others ....

 

[Moxie]

This is going to be big…. Tennis Integrity Unit to issue a statement on Monday. I assume Australian time, so should be in a few hours. A couple of sources I just read on Google have implicated “Grand Slam winners” without naming specific names.

Mid-high -20s/30s level players would have the most incentive.  Not sure about Slam winners, though they are going back to 2008.  You'd have to go back to upsets big enough to stretch the odds, but small enough not to cause a stir.  Remember that the Davydenko scandal caused a lot of notice, in a pretty obscure tournament.  If it happened at Wimbledon, look for mid-level upset.

 

[DarthFed]

The report says a US Open Champion. If this dates back to only 2008 I'd bet my right, left, and center nuts which one was involved (assuming we are only talking ATP and not WTA)

 

[Moxie]

The report says a US Open Champion. If this dates back to only 2008 I’d bet my right, left, and center nuts which one was involved (assuming we are only talking ATP and not WTA)

I can't see by the articles I've been reading that a US Open Champion is mentioned, though Wimbledon is mentioned.  Can you cite?

 

[DarthFed]

Twisted wrote:
The report says a US Open Champion. If this dates back to only 2008 I’d bet my right, left, and center nuts which one was involved (assuming we are only talking ATP and not WTA)

I can’t see by the articles I’ve been reading that a US Open Champion is mentioned, though Wimbledon is mentioned. Can you cite?

http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/14590723/report-alleges-widespread-match-fixing-major-tournaments-top-ranked-players

 

[Moxie]

Interesting.  Also, the idea that they were offered "$50K +," to fix matches does imply more mid-level players, or mid-level before they won a Major.

 

[DarthFed]

Possibly but at a 250 level tournament  $5o,000 is a pretty decent sum.  Also it is quite possible that the players fixing their matches are placing their own bets through a bookie.

 

[Moxie]

Possibly but at a 250 level tournament $5o,000 is a pretty decent sum. Also it is quite possible that the players fixing their matches are placing their own bets through a bookie.

But still, then, you're talking about guys who are betting against their own talent, because they lose ranking points.  Once you get betting and big money in, organized crime gets involved (apparently) and then it gets messy.  You don't know what kinds of things wise guys can use to pressure players, either.

 

[Denis]

The report says a US Open Champion. If this dates back to only 2008 I’d bet my right, left, and center nuts which one was involved (assuming we are only talking ATP and not WTA)

That was the only player I could think of myself.

 

Its a a bit annoying tho they are bringing a story like this without having the guts to name the players.

 

[brokenshoelace]

I don't find these things the least bit surprising. When money is involved, and stakes are high, corruption is bound to exist. It is the case in pretty much every field. Not to say it's acceptable or anything.

I'm interested as to who's involved. Reliable sources mainly said "top 50/top 30 players" so if I had to guess, I think we'll hear some recognizable names but no real superstars or anything. Then again, I don't think the absolute elite would be involved in something like this, not in this particular case anyway.

 

[Denis]

I don’t find these things the least bit surprising. When money is involved, and stakes are high, corruption is bound to exist. It is the case in pretty much every field. Not to say it’s acceptable or anything. I’m interested as to who’s involved. Reliable sources mainly said “top 50/top 30 players” so if I had to guess, I think we’ll hear some recognizable names but no real superstars or anything. Then again, I don’t think the absolute elite would be involved in something like this anyway, not in this particular case anyway.

the original source says a GS champion is involved. If it is indeed a US Open champion we all know who it is.

If it's doubles, the list becomes much larger.

this disclosure really is halfassed tho: we want to know who, when where and how.

 

 

[Mastoor]

It will be the same thing like it happened in athletics where British wanted to put down Russians and accused them of organised doping and it returned like boomerang back to Brits. We will soon see who is the cappo di tutti cappi in tennis, or if you like Lord Sebastian Coe of tennis.

 

 

 

[Moxie]

US commentator Chris Fowler said that a Swedish publication had a list of names, and you could find it.  I did.  I wasn't going to put it up, but Hewitt's name is not on it, as was mentioned in another thread.  This is the source, for what it's worth, as it's in Swedish.  Here is the list:

Copied from the article, names of players on the 2011 blacklist

Philipp Kohlschreiber, Potito Starace, Andreas Seppi, Fabio Fognini, Janko Tipsarevic, Michael Llodra, Nikolay Davydenko, Teymuraz Gabashvili, Victor Crivoi, Christophe Rochus, Oscar Hernandez, Yevgeny Korolev, Filippo Volandri, Wayne Odesnik, Victoria Azarenka, Agnieszka Radwanska, Francesca Schiavone, Sara Errani, Maria Kirilenko, Kateryna Bondarenko

Names of players on the 2011 warning list

Brian Dabul, Eduardo Scwhank, Jeremy Chardy, Simone Bolelli, Lukasz Kubot, Carlos Berlocq, Igor Kunitsyn, Andrey Golubev, Alex Bogomolov, Somdev Devvarman, Steve Darcis, Marin Cilic, Flavio Cipolla, Ivo Karlovic, Viktor Troicki, Flavia Pennetta, Roberta Vinci, Virginie Razzano, Romina Oprandi, Dominika Cibulkova, Eleni Daniilidou

I think everyone should take this with a HUGE grain of salt.  And it's from 2011.  Given that the Russian and Italian Mafias are involved, I feel like most of us could have made a good part of this list, cynically, on our own.  That doesn't make it true.  It seems obvious to implicate Russian (and Eastern European) players, and Italians, and the players that have been sanctioned for drug cheating.  Otherwise, I find it only sprinkled with surprises.  Which makes it seem very made-up, to me.  Anyway, please don't take this as truth.  I was just thinking to defend Hewitt, as he's bowing out.

 

[britbox]

Tennis Match-Fixing Scandal Reaches New Heights After Suspicious Australian Open Match

http://thinkprogress.org/sports/2016/01/25/3742703/tennis-match-fixing-scandal-update/

 

[Mastoor]

When I went to school many years ago they thought me all the white people are one race. Then when I moved to English speaking country they thought me quickly we are not the same race.

I am convinced the lists are very much racist because there are hardly any Huns on them. How's that possible?

 

[Moxie]

Wow, there's a lot in there, Mastoor, and much of it ugly. I'm not sure what "Hun" means to you, so perhaps you could illuminate that. Generally, in English slang, it's a pejorative for "German," coming out of WWII propaganda. If you're basing it on the ancient/medieval usage, then I'm really not clear.

 

[britbox]

Good article by Lindsay Gibbs

http://thinkprogress.org/sports/2016/01/20/3741236/tennis-match-fixing-scandal/

 

[mrzz]

After reading all those stories there are a few things which are still strange to me:

1) First, they seem to rely a lot on "strange betting patterns". Loads of problems here... first, this puts the betting companies in the very good position of being able to point the finger to whoever they want. Remember that, for them, a good player is a player who follow statistics closely. Second, at least in that link Moxie provided, the "evidence" presented is laughable for anyone who understands a bit of statistics.

2) Ok, let's assume someone has fixed a match. They would not tell the world about it, right? You would one, maybe two guys betting on the underdog, not a lot of people betting on him, as it is written in a lot of reports as sign of "evidence". Maybe nobody has nothing concrete after all...