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The joint BBC and Buzzfeed investigation has created a storm in tennis circles by claiming match-fixing is rife with a hard core of 16 players, including a Slam champion, involved.
Benn Gunn, a former police chief who has been investigating match-fixing, has passed on names to the ATP and the Tennis Integrity Unit but claims his findings have been swept under the carpet.
ATP president Chris Kermode has strongly denied the Gunn allegation, saying 18 players have been convicted, six of them for life, since 2009.
But where Kermode loses credibility is not one of the convicted players names have ever been made public – just another example of sweeping under the carpet.
The European Sports Security Association piped up by handing the ATP and Integrity Unit 50 suspicious matches last year.
The head of the Integrity Unit Nigel Willerton doesn’t cover himself with any glory either.
“It is not the role of bookies to make judgement about corrupt activity,” said Willerton.
The comment beggars belief.
The bookies are in the perfect position to make judgement on suspicious betting, or suspicious trends, far more so than the Integrity Unit.
So let’s see what happens at the Australian Open.
We are only at the second day of competition, yet repeating the ATP and the Integrity Unit have been given a hard core of 16 names who are under suspicion for match-fixing, one of them a Slam champion.
As Roger Federer demands – name them.
One of Novak Djokovic’s support team was approached a decade ago with a $200,000 bribe to lose, the team member refused to pass on the message, but should have told the powers-that-be.
That’s another problem associated with match-fixing with unscrupulous bookmakers likely to physically harm a dobber.
On the lady’s side, Serena Williams has no knowledge of any match-fixing, rightfully saying she virtually lives in a bubble.
Besides, why would any match-fixer approach Federer, who has banked $97.34 million in prize money alone, or Djokovic with $94.25 million, or Serena with $74.08 million.
It’s the middle of the road players who are the targets.
But one thing’s for sure, match-fixing allegations will only worsen until the ATP goes public with the offenders.
Or the Integrity Unit does the job they were appointed to do.
Better still, a combination of both.