Tennis chiefs to fight corruption

PROFESSIONAL tennis bodies must implement an anti-corruption programme to combat threats to the game, an independent review recommended yesterday.

The four-month review, which was published by the International Tennis Federation, the ATP, the WTA Tour and the four grand slams, stressed that while “professional tennis is neither systematically nor institutionally corrupt”, steps needed to be taken to protect “vulnerable” players from corrupt approaches.

“Professional tennis, like other sports, is experiencing threats to integrity from a range of issues,” the review panel revealed in its report.

“There are strong indications that some players are vulnerable to corrupt approaches and others outside of tennis are using them to make corrupt gains from professional tennis.”

The independent review began in January and aimed to look into the integrity of the sport.

It found five potential threats to the sport, namely corrupt practice by players and others in respect to gambling; breaches of the rules in relation to tanking; violation of credentials; misuse of inside information and illegal or abusive behaviour towards players.

The panel has outlined 15 recommendations, which the sport’s governing bodies will implement.

Chief among the recommendations was the need to establish a new uniform anti-corruption programme.

The report said: “We strongly recommend that the new anti-corruption programme forms the basis for a new Regulatory Strategy which focuses principally on the twin aims of ‘prevention’ and ‘detection’.

The review, led by former Metropolitan Police officers Ben Gunn and Jeff Rees, was set in motion following a number of high-profile incidents related to gambling on tennis events.

The most famous case came last year when gambling website Betfair refused to pay out on a Nikolay Davydenko versus Martin Vassallo match due to irregular betting patterns.

In the wake of that encounter, a number of professionals revealed they had been approached by individuals who wanted to influence the results of matches, while Italian players Potito Starace, Alessio Di Mauro and Daniele Bracciali have been hit with suspensions after being found guilty of betting on matches.

The review recommended further scrutiny of 45 professional tennis matches played over the past five years because of suspect betting patterns.