Two Grand Slam matches were among the 96 flagged as potentially suspicious to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) between July and September of this year, it was announced today.
The TIU confirmed the alerts came from one match at Wimbledon and another at the US Open.
The organisation, established in 2008 to combat betting-related corruption in the sport, revealed in a statement following the release of amount of matches flagged during the third quarter of 2016 that both “are the subject of routine, confidential investigation by the TIU.”
There is no suggestion at this point that wrongdoing was present in either match.
A total of 31 of the alerts were raised at the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Challenger level, while 54 came in men’s Futures tournaments.
The other nine were flagged in women’s events sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation.
During the reporting period, 35,041 professional matches were played, with the 96 alerts representing 0.27 per cent of that figure.
The total matches highlighted this year now stands at 217, only 29 less than the whole of 2015.
Fourth quarter results, detailing the period from October to December, are set to be revealed by the TIU in January.
“The increased figure, compared to quarters one and two, is a direct reflection of the substantial number of new MoUs established during 2016,” the TIU statement read.
“One such agreement accounts for 47 of the total number of alerts for the quarter.”
The TIU also announced that it will be expanding its operation following the recruitment of two new investigators and an education manager.
Sarah Hamlet and Lacksley Harris will serve as the TIU’s two newest investigators and will join the existing London-based team this month, while the education manager is a newly-created role within the organisation.
It has been created to “to expand the scope of the current player and officials training program.”
September proved to be a busy month for the TIU as French tennis player Constant Lestienne received a seven-month ban and a fine of $10,000 on September 22 for betting on 220 matches between February 2012 and June 2015.
Joshua Chetty of South Africa was then banned from tennis for life after he was found guilty of attempting to fix matches on September 28.
Allegations of widespread match-fixing in tennis were revealed on the eve of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, in January.
By Liam Morgan
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz