Tennis match-fixing

sid

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A "tsunami" of match-fixing is plaguing lower-level tennis events, says a long-awaited report into corruption in the sport.

But the Independent Review Panel (IRP) has found no evidence of a cover up of these issues by governing bodies or the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU).

The report also shows no evidence of top-level players being implicated.

The panel - which BBC Sport understands cost close to £20m to fund - spoke to more than 100 players for the report.

Wednesday's report says there is a "very significant" corruption problem at "lower and middle levels of the sport" and especially in the men's game.

It found "some evidence of some issues" at higher levels, such as Grand Slams and Tour events, but the evidence does not reveal a "widespread problem" in elite professional tennis.

The panel made several recommendations to tackle corruption because it believes the current system used by the TIU and international governing bodies is "inadequate to deal with the nature and extent of the problem now faced".

Investigation at Grand Slams were deemed "insufficient" by the report, while other enquiries were "inappropriate or ineffective, resulting in missed opportunities".

The ATP, the organisational body of men's professional tennis, were also found to be guilty of "failing to exhaust potential leads before ending investigations".

The IRP was set up in January 2016 after a BBC and BuzzFeed News investigation uncovered suspected illegal betting.
 

britbox

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I'm not surprised the ATP haven't been particularly thorough in their investigations. There needs to be a separate body set up to be the watchdog for drug-testing and match-fixing. The ATP's primary interest is promoting the tour.... uncovering cheats and dopers is pretty much a conflict of interest. We've seen in cycling, athletics and a host of other sports how this works if the governing body is left in charge of these issues.
 

GameSetAndMath

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It looks like match fixing is confining to lower echelons of professional tennis and I am inclined to believe that. However, can't say the same about dopers though.