Widespread suspected match-fixing exists at the top level of world tennis, including at Wimbledon, according to secret files obtained by the BBC and online BuzzFeed News.
Widespread suspected match-fixing exists at the top level of world tennis, including at Wimbledon, according to secret files obtained by the BBC and online BuzzFeed News.
Over the last decade, 16 players ranked in the top 50 have been repeatedly flagged to the Tennis Integrity Unit, which was set up to police the sport, over suspicions they have thrown matches, the news organisations said.
All of the players, including winners of Grand Slam titles, were allowed to continue competing. Eight of them are playing in the Australian Open, they added.
The BBC and BuzzFeed News said they had not named the players because without access to their phone, bank and computer records it was not possible to determine whether they took part in match-fixing.
The news organisations said they had obtained a cache of documents that included the findings of an investigation set up in 2007 by the organising body, the Association of Tennis Professionals. The documents show the inquiry found betting syndicates in Russia, northern Italy and Sicily making hundreds of thousands of pou-nds betting on games whi-ch investigators thought to be fixed. Three of these games were at Wimbledon.
Meanwhile, information received had not been suppressed and was investigated thoroughly by its integrity unit, the chairman of the ATP Tour Chris Kermode said.
