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Tennis investigators ‘monitor persons of interest’ at the Australian Open as the sport seeks to crack down on the match-fixing and doping scandals that tarnished its image last year.
A number of ‘persons of interest’ are reportedly being monitored at the Australian Open as investigators seek to crack down on corruption and doping in the sport.
According to the daily telegraphEuropean crime experts have been deployed to Melbourne Park to ensure the tournament is not marred by the scandals that have recently beset the sport.
According to figures from the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), 18 players were arrested in anti-doping tests last year.
Investigators are monitoring several ‘persons of interest’ at the Australian Open
Meanwhile, four players have been banned for life from the sport after being found guilty of match-fixing offences. Following an extensive investigation, a combined total of 26 referees, coaches and players also received lengthy suspensions.
ITIA investigators in Melbourne have been given greater powers, such as seizing the mobile phones of any player or official suspected of wrongdoing.
The attention that Grand Slam tournaments generate from the media and bookmakers means that match-fixing is less likely to occur than smaller events.
ITIA does not expect any matches at the Australian Open to be fixed and the players who were banned last year were ranked outside the world’s top 300.
Last year, 18 players were arrested in a drug test and four players were banned for life for a series of match-fixing offences.
At the same time ITIA head of communications Adrian Bassett warned that even some of the Grand Slam participants had been involved in match-fixing.
“There are players who have been involved in match-fixing that will come to the Grand Slams,” he said.
‘Of course, the players who are of interest coming to Grand Slams, that’s half the reason our researchers are here.
“But we don’t see evidence of massive match-fixing at Grand Slams because that’s when everyone is watching and the bookies are keeping a close eye on it as well.”
The International Tennis Integrity Agency does not expect match-fixing at the Australian Open or any Grand Slam tournament.
ITIA was launched in 2021 to combat the rampant spread of corruption in sport on the advice of European authorities and Bassett acknowledged that match-fixing remained a major problem for tennis.
“We would never hesitate to say that there is a match-fixing problem in tennis,” he said.
‘That’s why we exist.’