Tennis 2016

[Buzzo]

Start the Tennis year with an amazing bit of sportsmanship from Jack Sock.

[ame="http://youtu.be/Q24vr-nwpbI"]Jack Sock v Leighton Hewitt. Sportsmanship at its absolute best - YouTube[/ame]

Tennis

[RichC]

Good on Murray

Murray helps to raise £83,000 for Unicef through Andy's Aces

Andy Murray said he was 'very grateful' to his sponsors and fans for their help in raising the money for Unicef
Tennis star Andy Murray has raised more than £83,000 for the charity Unicef through his Andy's Aces initiative.
Last September, the Wimbledon winner and current BBC Sports Personality of the Year said he would donate £50 every time he hits an ace on court.
His donations were added to by his sponsors, tennis associations and fans.
Murray created the scheme following the repercussions of the conflict in Syria and said: "It's amazing that we've been able to raise so much."
The Dunblane-born star, who led Britain to Davis Cup glory last year, added: "I remember watching the news last summer and deciding I wanted to do something to help some of the millions of children whose lives have turned upside down by the situation in Syria.
"I'm very grateful to my sponsors and fans for their help in this - I couldn't have done it without them. I know how hard Unicef are working to support these children, and millions of others around the world and I'm proud to have been able to help."
Murray's sponsors Standard Life and Under Armour, along with the Lawn Tennis Association and The Association of Tennis Professionals, matched every £50 donation from the tennis star, and Standard Life employees also participated in fundraising.
Unicef said the donation will allow the organisation to provide over 16,000 children with blankets.
David Bull, Unicef's UK Executive Director, said: "All of us here at Unicef UK are incredibly grateful to Andy for his continued support. Almost five years into the conflict, Syria remains one of the most dangerous places to be a child and millions of children have lost loved ones, homes and schools.
"Their world has been turned upside down by the conflict and humanitarian needs are becoming ever more urgent. The support of Andy, his fans and the wider tennis community will help us provide support for children who have lost so much."

[RichC]

Jamie Murray has started the year well, taken the doubles title with Bruno Soares in Sydney.

[Chazza]

Tennis match fixing: Evidence of suspected match fixing revealed

Secret files exposing evidence of widespread suspected match fixing at the top level of world tennis, including at Wimbledon, can be revealed by the BBC and BuzzFeed News.

Over the last decade 16 players who have ranked in the top 50 have been repeatedly flagged to the tennis integrity unit over suspicions they have thrown matches.

All of the players, including winners of Grand Slam titles, were allowed to continue competing.

The Tennis Integrity Unit - set up to police the sport - said it has a zero-tolerance approach to betting-related corruption

The cache of documents passed to the BBC and Buzzfeed News include the findings of an investigation set up in 2007 by the organising body, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

Hear the whole story on File on 4, Tuesday 20:00 GMT, BBC Radio 4

Its job was to look into suspicious betting activity after a game involving Nikolay Davydenko and Martin Vassallo Arguello. The two players were cleared of violating any rules but the investigation developed into a much wider enquiry looking into a web of gamblers linked to top level players.

The documents we have obtained show the enquiry found betting syndicates in Russia, Northern Italy and Sicily making hundreds of thousands of pounds betting on games investigators thought to be fixed. Three of these games were at Wimbledon.

In a confidential report for the tennis authorities in 2008, the enquiry team said 28 players involved in these games should be investigated but the findings were never followed up. Tennis introduced a new anti-corruption code in 2009 but after taking legal advice were told previous corruption offences couldn't be pursued "as a result no new investigations into any of the players who were mentioned in the 2008 report were opened", a TIU spokesman said.

In subsequent years there were repeated alerts sent to the TIU about a third of these players. None of them were disciplined by the TIU.

A group of whistle blowers inside tennis, who wanted to remain anonymous, recently passed the documents on to the BBC and Buzzfeed News. We contacted Mark Phillips, one of the betting investigators in the 2007 enquiry who told the BBC they discovered there was repeated suspicious betting activity about a clear group.

"There was a core of about 10 players that we believed were the most common perpetrators that were at the root of the problem."

He has never spoken publicly before about the material he gathered which he said was as powerful as any he had seen in over 20 years as a betting investigator.

"The evidence was really strong, there appeared to be a really good chance to nip it in the bud and get a strong deterrent out there to root out the main bad apples."

The BBC and Buzzfeed were also passed on the names of other current players the TIU have repeatedly been warned about by betting organisations, sports integrity units and professional gamblers.

Many of these players have been on the radar of the tennis authorities for involvement in suspicious matches going back to 2003.

The BBC and Buzzfeed News have decided not to name the players because without access to their phone, bank and computer records it is not possible to determine if they may be been personally taking part in match fixing.

However tennis's integrity unit does have the power to demand all this evidence from any professional tennis player.

"There is an element of actually keeping things under wraps," said Benn Gunn.

He is a former police chief constable who conducted a major review of betting in tennis which led to the creation of the Tennis Integrity Unit.

It's the first time he has publically spoken about his concerns.

"If they were really serious about dealing with this then they really need to create an integrity unit with teeth."

Last year the European Sports Security Association, which monitors betting for leading bookmakers, flagged up more than 50 suspicious matches to the TIU in 2015.

The organisation declared that tennis attracts more suspicious gambling activity than other sport.

Nigel Willerton, director of the TIU said while it welcomed the support of the betting industry "it is not the role of betting companies to make judgements about corrupt activity". He said "all credible information received by the TIU is analysed, assessed, and investigated by highly experienced former law-enforcement investigators."

The problem of suspicious betting and match fixing is not going away. Eight of the players repeatedly flagged to the TIU over the last decade are due to play in the Australian Open which starts on Monday 18 January.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/35319202

[ChesterDave]

Li Na will be one of them.

[Buzzo]

World number one Novak Djokovic says he was approached to fix a match early in his career as allegations of corruption overshadow the Australian Open.

"I was not approached directly," said the world number one. "I was approached through people working with me."

The BBC and BuzzFeed News have obtained secret files that contain evidence of suspected match-fixing in tennis. The 28-year-old Serb, who said the offer was rejected, added he did not think match-fixing was prevalent today.

"There's no real proof or evidence yet of any active players, as long as it's like that, it's just speculation," he said.

The secret files indicate that, over the past decade, 16 players who have been ranked in the world's top 50 have been repeatedly flagged to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) over suspicions they have thrown matches.

ATP president Chris Kermode tells the BBC he is aware there is match-fixing within tennis but says it is at an 'incredibly small level'
All of the players, including winners of Grand Slam titles, were allowed to continue competing.

Chris Kermode, who heads the body that governs world tennis, has rejected claims that evidence of match-fixing had "been suppressed for any reason or isn't being thoroughly investigated".

But he added: "While the BBC and BuzzFeed reports mainly refer to events from about 10 years ago, we will investigate any new information."

British MP John Whittingdale has told the BBC that tennis should "learn from the mistakes of other sports" and take prompt action.

He added that "past allegations of this kind" against athletics and football were seemingly "swept under the carpet".

He added: "These are serious allegations and they need to be looked into very quickly."

A number of players competing at the Australian Open in Melbourne have been responding to the revelations.

Serena Williams has won the Australian Open six times
World number one Serena Williams said that if match-fixing was taking place, then she "didn't know about it".

The American added: "When I'm playing, I can only answer for me, I play very hard, and every player I play seems to play hard."

[RichC]

Novak sweating?

[Buzzo]

Heather Watson and Kyle Edmund out of the Aus Open already.

[Buzzo]

Muzzah on at 2am BST he's in got a decent draw now he's no2. It's going to be interesting to see how he gets on, with his first kid due in Feb - we'll need Kim to keep her legs crossed should Andy progress to the later stages. Andy has said he'd blow of the final if she went into labour and he was due to play.

[Chazza]

Nadal in big trouble.

Serving 5-2 down in the 5th against Verdasco.

[Chazza]

And he's gone.

[Buzzo]

Murray through convincingly - 6-1, 6-2, 6-3

I think Nadal was in Murrays half of the draw so his resurgence was short lived.

[RichC]

Konta knocks out Venus Williams! Good on her

[paulg]

Is this where Tim Henman pops up to pretend he threw all those Wimbledon semi finals, for a big bundle of cash?

[Buzzo]

Murray through.

0, 4, 1.

Cruising