{"id":4147,"date":"2017-08-25T08:02:13","date_gmt":"2017-08-25T12:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=4147"},"modified":"2021-12-23T19:45:55","modified_gmt":"2021-12-24T00:45:55","slug":"atp-wta-challenger-itf-match-fixing-issue-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2017\/08\/25\/atp-wta-challenger-itf-match-fixing-issue-tennis\/","title":{"rendered":"ATP, WTA, Challengers, and ITF: Match-fixing is Still a Big Issue in Tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the BBC<\/a>\/Buzzfeed<\/a>\u00a0match-fixing inquiry that attacked tennis’ image in early 2016, the tennis authorities reacted\u00a0announcing for Independent Review of Integrity in Tennis<\/strong>.\u00a0The IRP should have “reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme\u00a0(TACP), the Tennis Integrity Unit\u00a0(TIU)\u00a0and the Tennis Integrity Protection Programme\u00a0(TIPP)\u00a0and recommended any suggested changes.<\/em>” After 18 months,\u00a0the IRP hasn’t issued any document or statement<\/strong>, and this already should show the lack of effort and transparency of the review.<\/p>\n

Last week, the attention of the media was caught again by a tennis match played at the\u00a0Winston-Salem ATP<\/strong> event. You can read the details of the match perfectly explained here<\/a>\u00a0and to cut a long story short, this is the graph of Alexandr\u00a0Dolgopolov<\/strong>‘s price on Betfair<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/hotdog6969\/status\/899333992792682496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sportdw.com%2F<\/p>\n

The Ukraininan passed from clear favourite to clear underdog<\/strong> just a few hours before the match, he played a full match without showing any sign of injury<\/strong> (he didn’t receive any medical treatment during match), and got easily routined. The Tennis Integrity Unit has opened an investigation but we all know what happened to last public investigation announced<\/a>\u00a0about Vitalia Diatchenko’s match at US Open 2016: despite all the alerts sent to tennis authorities by Federbet (an organization that monitors suspicious gambling movement), the Russian kept playing for the whole 2017 without any problem with TIU hiding again behind their classic sentence<\/p>\n

there are many reasons other than corrupt activity that can explain unusual betting patterns, such as incorrect odds-setting; well-informed betting; player fitness, fatigue and form; playing conditions and personal circumstances<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

None of the above reasons seem applicable to Dolgopolov’s case.<\/p>\n

Pinnacle<\/strong>, one of world biggest bookmakers, decided to void\u00a0bets<\/strong> placed on the Dolgopolov match because of abnormal and suspicious betting activity<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Anyway, only a few noticed that a couple of hours before the Dolgopolov match, something weird happened in a WTA match in New Haven<\/strong>: Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko<\/strong> was playing her last round qualifying match and bookmakers rated her the slight favourite against Ana Bogdan. As soon as the match started, you could notice abnormal betting patterns on every bookmaker<\/strong>, especially Bet365 and Betfair–where Bondarenko, after four games played and with the score at 2-2, was priced 3.5 (instead of about 2 that you would have expected). She went on to lose the match 6-2 6-2.<\/p>\n

\n

Something wrong here….bet365 also removed 1st set…someone knows Bondarenko is sold or crippled pic.twitter.com\/bLhEwWiRIP<\/a><\/p>\n

— Stefano Berlincioni (@Carretero77) August 20, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n