The Tennis fraternity has been dealt with a severe blow, as the Tennis Integrity Unit(TIU) has reported that 3 Wimbledon matches and one French Open match had unusual betting patterns, and could be fixed.
The TIU received 53 match alerts in the period of April to June, when close to 31000 professional matches were played.
Out of the 53, 3 of the matches were during Wimbledon, 2 of which where qualifying matches and one was a main draw match.
40 of the 53 reported incidents were from low-level Challenger, Futures or ITF tournaments and the rest from ATP and WTA events.
While unusual betting patterns are not conclusive evidence for fixing as a lot of other factors also affect these patterns.
But it is surely something that the TIU will look into thoroughly, as in the past there have been a lot of instances of match fixing where betting patterns have taken ‘unusual turns’.
Wimbledon and Roland Garros authorities would be hoping that there was no match-fixing done because that would be tainting the image of these prestigious grand slams, but at the same time they would want the TIU to reach the crux of the matter and dig out the offenders, if any.
