An independent review of corruption in tennis found that the sport “faces a serious integrity problem” at its lower levels, but did not determine there are widespread problems at ATP, WTA and Grand Slam tournaments.
The report released on Wednesday showed no cover-up by tennis’ governing bodies of improper betting or match-fixing, although there were “errors made and opportunities missed,” said Adam Lewis, a member of the three-lawyer review panel.
Recommendations included putting an end to the ITF’s sale of official live scoring data to betting companies, which creates an environment that encourages corruption; increasing transparency by making public the tournament appearance fees paid to some players; and expanding the staffing and reach of the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), the anti-corruption group established in 2008 after a surge of suspicious betting activity.
“Fundamental reform is required,” Lewis said, adding that there were “shortcomings in the sport’s efforts to address the long-standing, underlying causes of breaches.”
“In a number of instances, the ATP failed to exhaust potential leads before ending investigations,” he said.
The review was called for after the BBC and BuzzFeed News published reports in January 2016 alleging that tennis authorities ignored widespread evidence of match-fixing involving more than a dozen players.
The panel surveyed more than 3,200 tennis players and interviewed 200 others involved in the sport.
While there is a “lamentably fertile breeding ground for breaches of integrity” at less-prominent Challenger and Futures events, there “appears to be much less of a problem at the tour and Grand Slam levels,” Lewis said.
The report quoted one TIU investigator as saying that “hundreds of matches at Futures level [singles and doubles] are not being played fairly, with the numbers reducing as you move upwards through the ranks of the professional game.”
It said another investigator “reported that at the lower levels of the sport, tennis faces a ‘tsunami’ of low-level betting and other integrity breaches.”
The TIU needs to increase its staffing — as of now, it does not employ tennis or gambling experts, for example — and needs to be “entirely independent,” including being housed separately from the ITF and having regular external audits, the report said.
A joint statement issued on Wednesday by the ITF, ATP, WTA and the four Grand Slam tournaments acknowledged “that there are vulnerabilities, particularly at the lower levels of tennis” and pledged to “address these concerns through firm and decisive action.”
Those governing bodies said they agree “in principle” with reforms proposed by the review.
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