Tennis Match Fixing Betting Scandal At The Australian Open?

Already caught in the headlight strength glare of skeptical media attention following the revelations and denials concerning past wrong-doing, the one thing the Australian Open didn’t need was a Tennis match fixing scandal, but apparently not everyone got the memo and that’s precisely what has caught the headlines. Classic.

Tennis Match Fixing Down Under
• Mixed doubles match betting suspicious
• Suspended 13 hours before the start
• $25,000 bet on $1,000 worth of game

I can only imagine that the people responsible for this Tennis match fixing scandal believe it’s the 1940s, that perhaps gambling scams still work like “The Sting” with Paul Newman And Robert Redford, or perhaps (for the younger amongst you) one of the Ocean’s 11 rehash movies with George Clooney and Brad Pitt, because no sane person would have attempted something so mind-bogglingly obvious at this particular juncture in time. Even lemmings would have thought twice.

The first round matches at the Australian Open, as with many competitions around the world, are not the most well attended games, big stars might pull in the punters but some of the lesser known players, particularly in the doubles game, can find themselves playing a match few are taking any real interest in. Thus it was with the match between David Marreo & Lara Arruabarrena, from Spain, and the Pole Lukasz Kubot playing alongside Andrea Hlavackova from the Czech Republic.

It should have been a relatively straight-forward mixed doubles match, typical fare if you will, but the New York Times was quick to report that Pinnacle Sports, popular amongst those that like to bet on sports in Australia, had suspended betting on the match having noted some “unusual patterns” in betting taking place indicating possibly Tennis match fixing, whilst brother bookies Betfair reported some $25,000 having been wagered on a match that would normally attract just $1,000 worth of punter’s money.

Spanish Accused Of Tennis Match Fixing?

“We saw a small number of people placing a large amount of money.” Said Marco Blume, a spokesman for Pinnacle, “In context these matches are rather small. That means that any aggressive betting behavior is very easy to detect on our side.” Which is why they suspended betting on the match some 13 hours ahead of time. Blume went on to add that of the 554 matches played in the first week in Melbourne, this was the only match that had tripped the Tennis match fixing alarm bells.

A spokesman for the International Tennis Federation at first claimed not to have been informed of Pinnacle’s concerns, and the internal watchdog that is supposed to root out Tennis match fixing, the TIU (Tennis Integrity Unit) doesn’t wish to comment on the matter, although the winning players in the match confirmed they had been approached by the TIU after the match. The Spanish pair that lost, of course, deny everything,

If you’re Australian gambling laws governing the sport would quickly deal with this manifest and obvious transgression then I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed as Marrero has already claimed to have given the game “100 percent” despite constantly worrying about a knee injury that he could have made worse and which would have rendered him unable to play for a considerable time. Now perhaps that’s true, perhaps it’s not. Who can say?

Tennis Match Fixing In The Mixed Doubles

Well his partner can, apparently, telling the press that their coaches, the tournament medical staff and some fellow players had all been told about Marrero’s injury prior to the match and went on to say, perhaps in too mercenary a manner for her own good, that they would not have been able to claim the $3,200 loser’s prize had they not played at all. She seems to believe that the widespread knowledge of Marrero’s injured knee may lie behind the unusual betting patterns that have led to accusations of Tennis match fixing.

“Someone had to know this.” Arruabarrena stated as a defense against accusations of Tennis match fixing, and she may well be right, if a player is injured they can expect to be beaten and if gamblers find out, well, who isn’t going to take advantage? Of course that in of itself became the problem as too many people jumped on the bandwagon and made it blatantly obvious. Modern technology keeps lists of everything and the numbers that go with it, of course Pinnacle and Betfair  spotted it.

So was this Tennis match fixing or just an unfortunately lame game of which some took advantage? We may never know. It would be hard to prove one way or the other, and whilst the Tennis Integrity Unit want to clean up the game the International Tennis Federation is just gambling news coverage can be kept marginally scandal free until the media get distracted once and for all by the horror show that is the doping scandal in world of International Athletics.