Tennis Match-Throwing Allegations

Lots of talk on the subject recently.

The Australian Open kicked off Monday amid allegations of widespread match-fixing that involve some of tennis' top players, according to a report by the BBC and BuzzFeed News.

The allegations include claims that over the last decade, 16 to 50 ranked players - including winners of Grand Slam titles - have repeatedly been flagged to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) over suspicions they have thrown matches.

Eight of the players repeatedly flagged to the TIU, which was set up to police illegal activities in world tennis, are due to play in the Australian Open, the first of the year's Grand Slam tennis tournaments.

None of these players has been named publicly.

Tennis rocked by Grand Slam match-fixing allegations

Novak Djokovic said earlier this week in an interview that he was once offered $200k to throw a match... unless it was years ago and he was still very young it seems like someone grossly missed the required number.

You're not going to get the big guys (or women) to throw a match. Djokovic, Federer, Nadal, Serena, etc make wayyyyy too much money. Now if you go after the guy ranked 87th in the world who is making less than a million a year (with a ton of traveling expenses), $200k is real money. Also, if he loses, not to many people notice or care.

Of the little I have read, what is astonishing is that the guys running pro tennis knew this stuff was going on and looked the other way. NOT GOOD!

Crazy that behind soccer, tennis is the second most bet on sport in the world.

Crazy that behind soccer, tennis is the second most bet on sport in the world.

Yep.

And that's how these allegations came to the surface. Analyzing patterns of chunks of "late money" bet on underdogs.

Not being the betting type of guy, I wonder how betting on tennis is primarily done. Is it just straight up picking the winner(s)? Or, is it broke down into how many sets it takes?

Just wondering, because I always seem to see some weird scores where somebody wins something like 6-0, 6-1, 1-6, 6-2...and I've always wondered what the heck happened in that one set. How do you dominate someone everywhere else, but happen to get crushed yourself in another set? It's almost like they weren't trying to win in straight sets.

Not being the betting type of guy, I wonder how betting on tennis is primarily done. Is it just straight up picking the winner(s)? Or, is it broke down into how many sets it takes?

 

Just wondering, because I always seem to see some weird scores where somebody wins something like 6-0, 6-1, 1-6, 6-2...and I've always wondered what the heck happened in that one set. How do you dominate someone everywhere else, but happen to get crushed yourself in another set? It's almost like they weren't trying to win in straight sets.

I read an article about tennis match fixing years ago and it changed the way I watch the game. You're right, in addition to a straight up picking the winner by the odds (standard stuff like Roger Federer -600/No Name Johnny +540), a lot of bookmakers do the "How many sets will someone win by?" prop bet. So:

Roger Federer -1.5/No Name Johnny +1.5

If Federer wins 3 sets to 0 or 4 sets to 1, bets on Federer collect. Otherwise, bets on Johnny collect.

Some bookmakers also do the same with total games won. Will Roger Federer win 4 more total games through the match than Johnny? It places a spread on total games won.

So now every time I see one of those matches where one set it all out of whack, I think about that article of the over/under on sets played.

It's pretty common for a player to get down a serve and coast through the set to save energy or to coast when their opponent is serving to save energy for a later break point or tie-break. With that sort of "sandbagging" already part of the game, I imagine a player throwing a match would be tough to spot. It might only be two or three points where the player has to intentionally make a mistake to take the L.

It's pretty common for a player to get down a serve and coast through the set to save energy or to coast when their opponent is serving to save energy for a later break point or tie-break. With that sort of "sandbagging" already part of the game, I imagine a player throwing a match would be tough to spot. It might only be two or three points where the player has to intentionally make a mistake to take the L.

The "total games won" spread is the one that fascinates me. It could be so easy to drop three games over a four set match and hit the mark on that spread.

If you are betting number of "games" won in a tennis match, you...my friend...may have a problem...:lol2: